
Class 
Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




LILLIAN RUSSELL. 



OtilCJ^OO 



BY 



D A.Y--e Nioh:t:". 



THE 



PLEASURE SEEKER'S GUIDE 



TO THE 






300 P=».^OE^S. 
69 II^X^TLTS'TI^JS.'riOlMS. 



/' - ■"^- Me93 ) 



iViAY i-^ 



CHICAGO : 2-1^"7 Jt 3 '^ 

THOMSON AND ZIMMERMAN, 

234 AND 236 La Salle St., ' ^""^ 

1892. 



J J v 



^'-'^.^ ^^_x^ 



,5 



Copyrighted 1892, 
By THOMSON AND ZIMMERMAN. 



[All rights reserved^ 




PART I. 

4 

INTRODUCTORY. 

CHAPTER I.— Where to Stay— A Concise Description of the 
Hotels of Chicago, their Characteristics, their Prices, with 
some Account of the People Who Patronize Each — The 
Great Palmer House Tragedy. 

CHAPTER II.— The Theatres— A Complete Description of the 
City's Splendid Play Houses and the Attractions They 
Present — ^Beautiful Belles of Burlesque. 

CHAPTER III.— The Great Auditorium and the New German 
Theatre — Two New Edifices of which all Chicagoans are 
Proud. 

CHAPTER IV.— Two Unique Playhouses. Being the Madison 
Street Opera House and Park Theatre, where the Shows 
are not Painfully Orthodox and Feminine Beauty is the 
Chief Attraction. 

CHAPTER v.— Free and Easy Shows— Where Etiquette is not 
always Strictly Observed. Being Music and Dance Halls, 
and Such Like Free and Easy Resorts — "Papa" Engel's 
"Variety" Palace. 

CHAPTER VI.— Churches and Church Services. A Full Account 
of Chicago's Handsomest and Most Popular Churches, their 
Location and their Pastors. 

CHAPTER VII.— The Panoramas and Libby Prison— Places of 
Delightful but Quiet Entertainment that the Stranger cannot 
Afford to Miss. 

CHAPTER VIII.— Perils and Pitfalls— A Chapter that All Should 
Read, inasmuch as it Tells of the Traps Set by the Wicked 
for the Unwary. 



CHAPTER IX.— As to Adventuresses— The Seductive but Con- 
scienceless Creatures whose Wiles Work Mischief with those 
who Do Not Play the Prudent Part and Keep them at a Dis- 
tance. 

CHAPTER X.— The Tiger and its Haunts— Gambling Games 
Great and Small wherein the Process of Parting the Fool 
and his Money is Carried on with Facility and Dispatch. 

CHAPTER XI. — Masquerades and Similar Entertainments 
wherein the Giddy Find Delight. Fun and Revelry the 
Order of the Night. 

CHAPTER XII.— On Shopping— A Few Pertinent Pointers for 
Purchasers. 

CHAPTER XIII.— Caroussels— A Unique Form of Diversion that 

is Patronized by Many. 
CHAPTER XIV.— Turkish Baths— Massage — Manicures — The 

First the Winebibber's Salvation, the Second a Doubtful 

Luxury, the Third a Charming Experience. 

CHAPTER XV.— Hackmen and their Ways— A Few Hints as to 
the Proper Way to Treat "Cabby" — His Legal Rates of 
Fare, etc. 

CHAPTER XVI.— The City's Moral Code— A Complete Refuta- 
tion of the Libelous Assertion that Chicago is the Wicked- 
est City in the World. 

CHAPTER XVII.— The Parks and Boulevards— Which Perhaps 
Constitute the City's Grandest Feature. 

CHAPTER XVIII.— Racing— The Three Great Race Tracks 
where One May See Unrivaled Contests in Equine Speed — 
The Glories of Derby Day and the Gay Cavalcade on the 
Avenues. 

CHAPTER XIX. — Open Air Attractions. Which Bring the 
Pleasure Seeker Entertainment and the Delights of Fresh 
Air at the Same Time — Mighty Pyrotechnical Displays. 

CHAPTER XX.— An Ideal Afternoon— The Prettiest Drive That 
Mortal May Wish to Take, With Possibly Other Charms 
Thrown in. 

CHAPTER XXI.— On the Water— The Aquatic Side of the Paris 
of America — Trips of all Sorts on the Lake. 



CHAPTER XXII.— The Restaurants of Chicago— Places Where 

the Best of Provender is to be Had at Moderate Rates — The 

Fascinating Table D'Hote. 
CHAPTER XXIII.— The Hay market Monument, with a Succinct 

Account of One of the Most Thrilling Periods in Chicago's 

History. 

CHAPTER XXIV.— Cheyenne— A Unique Spot in the City's 
Centre that it is Safer to Read About than to Visit. 

CHAPTER XXV.— Candies and Flowers— Some Beautiful Chi- 
cago Shops. 

CHAPTER XXVI.— Summer Night Concerts— The Delights of 
Music Enjoyed by the People During the Dog Days. 

CHAPTER XXVII.— Special Features— The Elevated Railroads; 
the County Jail; the Masonic Temple and Other Sights 
Worth Seeing. 

CHAPTER XXVIII.— A Few Final Words— Mainly in an Advis- 
ory Strain. 

PART II. 

THE GREAT WORIvD'S FAIR.— Being a Complete History of 
the Stupendous Exposition that will be Thrown Open in 
1893, when the Peopled World Will be Called Upon to 
View the Progress of the Future Metropolis — How the 
Exposition will be Opened in the Fall of the Present Year 
— The Colossal Buildings and Their Contents — Hints for 
the Wayfarer to Follow in His Strolls About the City Dur 
ing Fair Time. 



INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FUIvI. PAGE IIvIvUSTRATlONS. 

PAGE 

lyillian Russell Frontispiece 

A Group of Footlight Favorites 220*^ 

Popular Playhouses 401^ 

A Summer Concert Garden 168 

Masquerades Dream 118 ^ 

Bird's Bye View of the World's Fair 260*' 

Auditorium Proscenium Arch 200^ 

Panoramas, Casino and Libby Prison 80 '^ 

MINOR II.I.USTRATIONS. 

I. The Compiler at Work 21 

II. The Guest Registering 24 

III. Driving About the Town 27 

IV. Harvey's ''Wayside Inn" 30 

V. At the Theatres 34 

VI. At the Stage Entrance 38 

VII. The Auditorium Tower 43 

VIII. Astride of the Moon 49 

IX. Two Unique Play Houses 51 

X. At Free and Easy Shows 53 

XI. Types at Engel's 60 

XII. Churches 69 

XIII. Professor Swing in the Pulpit 75 

XIV. John Brown's Forge 79 

XV. Perils and Pitfalls 81 

XVI. Buying Banana Stalks 83 

XVII. The Adventuress 87 

XVIII. Catching On 92 

XIX. The Tiger's Implements 97 

XX. A Minion of the Tiger 99 

XXI. Victims of the Tiger loi 

XXII. Satellites of the Tiger 104 

XXIII. A Masquerade Sprite 114 

XXIV. The Fair Shopper 120 

XXV. On the Caroussel 123 



lO 

PAGE 

XXVI. In the Turkish Bath . 127 

XXVII. The Pretty Manicure 129 

XXVIII. The Guileless Hackman 134 

XXIX. The Woman's Temple 130 

XXX. The Pretty Wheelwoman 144 

XXXI. Looking at the Race 157 

XXXII. The Huckster 162 

XXXIII. The Circus Sprite 164 

XXXIV. An Ideal Afternoon 166 

XXXV. On the Water . 183 

XXXVI. Music Hath Charms 171 

XXXVII. The Waiter , . 187 

XXXVIII. A Petit Souper . 191 

XXXIX. An Anarchist 194 

XIv. The Haymarket Mouument 198 

XLI. A Cheyenne Fairy 201 

XLH. Cheyenne Types 203 

XIvIII. Candies and Flowers 206 

XLIV. Blevated Railroads 216 

XLV. The Author Moralizes . 223 

WORI^D'S FAIR PICTURES. 

I. Administration Building 224 

II. Figure from the Mining Building 234 

III. Figure from the lyiberal Arts Building 242 

IV. Benjamin Franklin 247 

V. A Dedicatory Scene 251 

VI. A Chicago Hussar 257 

VII. Group From the Woman's Building 261 

VIII. Group From the Woman's Building 263 

IX. Group From the Liberal Arts Building ........ 265 

X. Scene in the Chinese Tea Palace 266 

XI. Scene in the Moorish Village 268 

XII. An Opium Fiend 275 

XIII. Finis— The Author at Rest 281 



INTRODUCTORY. 



AT a Time when the attention 
of the world is concentrated upon 
Chicago, as it is at present, it is 
fitting that the stranger within its 
gates, as well as the uninitiated 
native, should be made aware 
of the various attractions, of 
all sorts and conditions, pos- 
sessed by the future metropo- 
lis of the United States. Chi- 
cago has been called the 
Paris of America, that ti- 
tle having been bestowed 
upon it by some bright- 
minded and discerning person who evidently knew 
whereof he spoke. That the title is indisputable 
goes without saying. In no other city of its size 
on the continent is the same variety of amusements 
to be found as in this one. All tastes may be 
promptly satisfied, all preferences catered to. If, 
when confronted by the marvelously variegated 
array of recreations and pursuits that this great 
city has to offer, the stranger or the periodical vis- 




:\m«\v 



22 



itor should turn away dissatisfied, imagining that 
he has failed to discover anything especially suited 
to his fancy, his mental and physical organism must 
be sadly askew. It is his fault and not Chicago's. 

From now on, and for the next year or so, this 
mighty city by the lake will swarm with myriads 
of men and women of all races, tribes and lan- 
guages, being brought hither by the Great Expo- 
sition that is destined to be the marvel of all 
nations. That some of this floating mass will re- 
main here is beyond question. In that case the 
population will swell until the two million mark is 
passed, and in the proportion that the population 
increases, so also will increase the attractions of the 
city that harbors it. 

It is the purpose of the present work to set forth, 
in a terse but comprehensive manner, the various 
sorts of entertainment offered by the Coming 
Metropolis. The Author, while sufficiently modest 
to keep his identity a secret, makes bold to assert 
that no person who scans the pages of this book 
will be able, after he has done so, to lay claim to 
ignorance of the means whereby to procure enter- 
tainment or solace for such hours of idleness as he 
may find on his hands during his stay in this city. 
The present area of Chicago is a fraction over 180 
square miles. What its area will be next year, or 
ten years hence, nobody can predict. For the 
present it is sufficient to know that within that area 



23 

of 1 80 square miles there dwells a community ac- 
tive, energetic, mercurial — eager in business and 
therefore keen in its thirst for recreation outside of 
business hours. 

The present work is undertaken in no spirit of 
levity or thoughtlessness. Its author is a man-of- 
the-world who, recognizing the desire of the aver- 
age man to be amused when the cares of business 
are done, and being fully cognizant of the qualifi- 
cations of this city in the amusement line, aims to 
instruct the uninitiated wayfarer in the paths he 
may follow with the most satisfaction to himself 
and the greatest benefit to his system. If but one 
reader confesses his indebtedness to this work for 
enlightenment in the smallest degree, its purpose 
will have been achieved. 

With renewed assurances, therefore, that the 
seeker after light upon a great city's manner of 
amusing itself will not seek in vain, the Author 
makes his bow to the reader and tenders him an 
invitation to accompany him through the following 
pages. 



CHAPTER I. 



WHERE TO STAY. 



THE question of location must of 
course be decided by the individual 
the visitor. It would be 
e indeed if, with a transient 
ition roughly estimated at 
>,000, the city did not pos- 
5 hotels of all grades' and 
descriptions, from which 
the most captious-mind- 
ed person might take his 
choice and procure satis- 
faction. Chicago, at the 
present writing, contains 
at least 1,500 hotels, with constant additions each 
year. There is no more difficult task than to tell 
a man with any accuracy what hotel will suit him 
best. A caravansary that would delight one man 
would disgust another and vice versa. The most 
satisfactory plan, therefore, and the safest, is to 
give a brief pen-sketch of the leading hotels, with 
some idea of the special characteristics of each and 
the style of entertainment they afford. 

The Lake Front hotels — the Richelieu, Audi- 
torium, and Leland — enjoy the cream of the new 




25 

transient patronage. By **new," is meant those 
people who have never before visited Chicago, and 
who naturally select the houses with the prettiest 
sites. The Auditorium (Michigan Avenue and 
Congress Street), despite its gorgeousness and the 
flourish of trumpets with which it was opened, does 
not indulge in ruinous rates. It is a very large 
hotel and accommodations may be had therein 
from $4 per day up. Perhaps it is this moderate 
charge that makes it so great a favorite with the 
theatrical profession, the more prosperous mem- 
bers of which enjoy the comfort it affords. Well- 
to-do managers, famous stars, and sometimes inter- 
rogatively opulent soubrettes and chorus girls seek 
lodging at the Auditorium, and some very pretty 
romances are narrated of flirtations more or less 
interesting which the ** blooded" habitues of this 
swell hotel " strike up " with the fair footlight fav- 
orites who enjoy its hospitality. It is worth the 
price of a day's board, or at least a dinner, some- 
times, to take a stroll in the corridors and catch the 
fragments of delicious lays that are being caroled 
forth by the song birds who are practicing their 
chosen art in the sanctity of their various cham- 
bers. Especially is this the case during a season 
of grand or light opera in the great theater adjoin- 
ing the hotel, in which case the latter is sure to be 
thronged with singers of both sexes, and of all 
grades of artistic and professional prominence. 



26 

There is a roomy balcony over the entrance to the 
Auditorium which, on pleasant days, is thronged 
with gaily dressed people of both sexes, who sit 
there and enjoy the dual delight of drinking in the 
balmy air and watching the cavalcade on the broad 
avenue below. 

A block north of the Auditorium is the Richelieu, 
the famous hostelry the destinies of which are pre- 
sided over by the renowned ** Cardinal" Bemis. 
For people of means, to whom money is less of an^ 
object than the engagement of luxuries, the Riche- 
lieu, they say, is the place par excellence at which 
to stop: Some notable people have honored the 
Richelieu with their presence, and one is just as 
liable to run plumb against a real, live English 
Lord or Italian Marquis within its doors as against 
a plain, everyday American citizen. Sara Bern- 
hardt selects the Richelieu when in the city; so 
does Mrs. Langtry when the confines of her private 
car become too narrow for comfort. The Riche- 
lieu is famous for the rare pictures that adorn its 
walls, some of which are worth small fortunes, and 
also — whisper this with bated breath, Oh, ye ir- 
reverent ! — for its wine cellars, which are stocked 
with some of the rarest and costliest vintages to be 
found on the entire continent. On state occasions, 
when the Cardinal is entertaining some choice 
party of notables, he is wont to disappear suddenly, 
absent himself for about fifteen minutes and then 



\ 



27 

reappear with a quaint-shaped bottle or two in 
either hand covered with cobwebs. Those who 




sample the contents of said bottles close their eyes, 



- 28 

pat their stomachs softly as the divine liquid glides 
down their throats, and then shed tears of joy and 
gratitude to the Cardinal for having given them 
the happiest moment of their lives. If you are a 
cojMioisseur of wines and wish to test your art in 
judgment thereof, cultivate the acquaintance of the 
Cardinal, and perhaps he will go down into the 
cellar for you. 

Mr. Warren Leland, who recently sold the hotel 
of that name, always said he had the prettiest 
house in Chicago, and there are some people who 
agree with him. The Leland rates, on the Ameri- 
can plan, are from $3 to $5 per day up ; the Euro- 
pean, $1.50 up. The Leland is known as the 
"home hotel" of Chicago, and there is a tradition 
abroad to the effect that people who once patron- 
ize it never go elsewhere. 

"The Blooded District" — Before proceeding 
to the consideration of other prominent hotels, it 
may be interesting to inform the reader that the dis- 
trict which we are about to leave, and of which the 
three hostelries enumerated form the nucleus, has 
achieved some fame in the annals of the town as 
"the blooded district" — so-called for the reason 
that the "high-rolling" young men of the city have 
made it a sort of headquarters or rendezvous, both 
before and after the hours when sober-minded and 
steady-going folk are fast asleep. The Auditorium, 
Richelieu, and Leland Cafes, together with 



29 

Devine's wine-room on the other side of Jackson 
Street, and Colonel John Harvey's " Wayside Inn " 
in the alley, form a sort of circuit or beat, which 
these * Vapid" young men(i. e. the "bloods") travel 
at all times, including- such hours as the sale of 
cheering beverages is forbidden by city ordinance. 
Of these, Harvey's is perhaps the most unique re- 
sort, though if one cannot find his friends in one of 
the places named after midnight he is tolerably cer- 
tain to encounter them in one of the others. Col- 
onel Harvey is the father of the pert little soubrette, 
Hattie Harvey, of whom the great dwa^ Patti, be- 
came so desperately enamored as to invite her to 
her castle in Wales, and admirers of the young 
lady are fond of dropping in to discuss her merits 
with her papa, the Colonel, who, it goes without 
saying, is the most devoted of her admirers. If 
you praise Hattie's beauty to the Colonel he will 
mix for you, with his own hands, one of his choicest 
drinks; if you swear on your honor that she is des- 
tined to become the greatest actress of the century, 
he will probably crack a bottle. The door of Har- 
vey's "Wayside Inn" is tightly closed at mid- 
night, but the initiated may gain ready admittance 
by learning the pass-word of the night and roaring 
it, in tones more or less musical, through the key- 
hole. You can always tell whether there is any 
fun going on in Harvey's by the galaxy of hack 
men who stand in line at the curb, waiting for the 



30 



"boys" to emerge in the small hours of the morn- 
ing. But we may now leave the *' blooded dis- 
trict" and take a glance at other South side 
hotels. 

The venerable Palmer House stands like a bul- 
wark at the corner of State and Monroe Streets, 
its vast expanse stretching away for half a block. 
The Palmer enjoys a steady patronage from peo- 
ple who have been ''putting up" there for years. 
It has a large clientele of the better class of com- 
mercial travelers. The wits of the town crack 
jokes at the expense of the Palmer on the score 
of the number of guests of Hebraic extraction it 



yj.'^^^^'"^ 



shelters. Be that as 

may, the Palmer 

welcomes all who 

pay their bills and 

those who patronize 

i t generally 

possess that 

adm i r able 

qualification. 

The Palmer's 

rates are $3 to 

$5 per day. 

There is a 
little room on 
the sixth floor 
of the Palmer which is an environ of romantic in- 




31 

terest, it having been the scene of one of the most 
famous tragedies in Chicago's history. In the 
summer of 1882, it was occupied by Charles Stiles, 
the popular and high-living ''caller" of the Board 
of Trade. Early one morning a veiled woman, 
whose tasteful but somber raiment revealed the 
outlines of an entrancing figure, took the elevator to 
the sixth floor and knocked at the door of Stiles' 
room. He came out scantily clad in response to 
the summons. There was a flash, the ringing re- 
port of a revolver, and in another instant the 
young man lay dead on the floor. The woman 
knelt down, kissed his forehead and submitted to 
arrest without a murmer. She was an Italian, 
Teresa Sturlata by name, and the mistress of 
Stiles. His previous abuse of her, as testified to 
at the trial, so influenced the jury in her behalf that 
she received but the nominal punishment of one 
year in the penitentiary, though her great beauty 
doubtless had some influence on the leniency of the 
sentence* Many men went daft over the beauti- 
ful murderess. Some of the letters that she re- 
ceived while in jail were published, and precious 
epistles they were, too. They all contained pro- 
testations of affection, and several offers of mar- 
riage were included among them. The woman 
went to the penitentiary and served her sentence. 
When released she disappeared as completely as 
though the earth had swallowed her. Her pres- 



32 

ent whereabouts is unknown, but the room made 
famous by the great tragedy is still pointed out to 
new guests at the Palmer. 

The Grand Pacific, on South Clark Street, kept 
by Landlord Drake, is of the same class as the 
Palmer, enjoying a steady patronage all the year 
round. The rates are $3 to $5 per day. The 
Tremont, kept by Mr. Eden (Lake and Dearborn) 
and the Sherman, kept by Mr. Pierce (Clark and 
Randolph), are of the same grade as the Palmer 
and Grand Pacific. 

These comprise the list of first-class down-town 
hotels, though several others are in progress of 
construction, with a view to caring for the thou- 
sands of strangers who will visit the World's Fair. 
Notable among these is the Great Northern, which, 
under the supervision of Mr. Eden, has just been 
pushed to completion. It Is on Dearborn 
Street opposite the post office, between Jackson 
and Quincy, being situated, therefore, in the very 
heart of the business district. 

The Victoria, the new hotel on the site of the 
building formerly known as the Beaurivage, Mich- 
igan Avenue and Congress Street, is a fashiona- 
ble house, patronized by the best people. The 
same is true of The Wellington, corner of Jack- 
son Street and Wabash Avenue. 

The smaller hotels are much too numerous to 
particularize. They are scattered in all directions 



33 

and their rates for rooms vary from fifty cents up- 
ward per day. There is no street in the business 
part of the city without two or three such hotels, 
and the traveler must be hard to please who can- 
not suit himself at one or another among so many. 
The residence part of the city, particularly on the 
North and South sides, is thickly dotted with first- 
class family hotels, where persons contemplating 
an extended stay may obtain quiet accommoda- 
tion in the exact ratio for which they care to pay. 
The two most magnificent family hotels are the 
Virginia, 78 Rush Street, and the Metropole, 
Michigan Avenue and Twenty-third Street. These 
two houses cannot be surpassed for style and ele- 
gance and they are patronized exclusively by peo 
pie of means. 



CHAPTER 11. 



THE THEATERS. 




THE Wayfarer hav- 
ing- received some hints 
as to the quarters in 
which he may estabUsh 
himself, one reaches the 
much more important 
question of how he shall 
amuse or divert himself 
while here. Before com- 
ing to the point of the 
more unique or unusual 
modes of diversion with 
which the city abounds one's first thoughts natur- 
ally turn to the theaters. 

Chicago is famous as a theatrical center, and the 
very best attractions are constantly to be found at 
one or another of the great play-houses. Just at 
this stage, therefore, it is meet to utter a few re- 
marks on the leading theaters and the class of ex- 
cellent entertainment they present to their patrons. 

The Chicago Opera House. — This theater, 
one of the youngest in Chicago, is perhaps enti- 
tled to primary mention by reason of its virtual 



35 

monopoly, except at stated intervals of the cream 
of the citiy's theatrical business. It has a very 
large seating capacity; was first opened about 
seven years ago with the tragedian, Thomas Keene, 
as the attraction. The director of the Chicago 
Opera House, Mr. David Henderson, has achieved 
a wide popularity, both in and out of the profes- 
sion, and is aided in his efforts by a corps of effi- 
cient assistants, notable among who are Messrs. 
Thomas W. Prior and Max Godenrath. While 
presenting to the public attention first-class attrac- 
tions all the year around, the Chicago Opera 
House has earned the major part of its distinction 
by the superb extravaganzas it has been producing 
annually. These extravaganzas usually commence 
in May and run through the summer months, thus 
securing to the house a steady patronage during 
the *' dog-days." It is beyond all question that 
the first of these spectacles, the "Arabian Nights," 
established Mr. Henderson's reputation as a pur- 
veyor of this class of entertainment, (termed by 
the irreverent **leg shows.") The second produc- 
tion, the "Crystal Slipper," enhanced this reputa- 
tion, and those succeeding — " Bluebeard Jr." and 
" Sinbad "— kept it going. This year (1892) the 
summer spectacle at The Chicago will be "Ali Baba, 
or the Forty Thieves, "and if advance gossip is to be 
taken as evidence, it will transcend in magnificence 
anything of its kind that has ever been produced un- 



36 

der Mr. Henderson's supervision. The libretto of 
''AH Baba" is by Harry B. Smith, the distinguished 
witandliterateur, who has performed a Hke service 
for the pieces before mentioned. The Chicago Opera 
House is situated on the South side of Washington 
Street, between Clark and La Salle Streets, and is 
invariably thronged throughout the hot weather. 
Mr Henderson manages to group upon his stage 
as choice a galaxy of feminine loveliness as is to be 
found in any climate, and the costuming (or rather 
the lack of it) is doubtless as gratifiying to the 
performers as it is to the spectators, being con- 
structed on the hot weather plan; light and airy. 
It is no uncommon sight to see a party of honest 
country folks appearing, gripsacks in hand at the 
doors of the Chicago Opera House, having come 
straight from the train to the theater to witness the 
show, the fame of which had penetrated to their 
homes in the country ; and which, after their re- 
turn, they would rather die than let their families 
and the church folks know they had seen. 

McVicker's Theater. — It is situated on the 
south side of Madison Street, between State and 
Dearborn, and is one of the oldest resorts of its 
kind in the city, though the present structure is 
quite new, having been reconstructed on the site 
of the old one, which was destroyed by fire in the 
spring of 1891. The attractions at McVicker's 



37 

are usually of the solid, legitimate order, though 
the gray-haired proprietor occasionally is guilty of 
a lapse to a variety show. McVicker's, how- 
ever, is the home of high-class drama and com- 
edy, and the theater itself is perhaps without a 
rival on the continent in the way of magnificent 
decorations and comfortable furnishing. While 
Mr. McVicker is opposed to Sunday performances, 
he occasionally permits them, which enables the 
stranger, not infrequently, to encounter a first-class 
Sunday night show within a few paces of his hotel. 

The Grand Opera House. — This admirable 
play-house is located on the east side of Clark 
Street, just north of Washington. It is another 
old-established theater enjoying a large patronage. 
The Grand is the home of Hoyt's farces, each of 
these fanciful productions having been produced 
successfully at Mr. Hamlin's temple. At the 
Grand, also appear most of the German compa- 
nies, though the latter will, it is to be presumed, 
go to the new edifice, Schiller theater, Randolph 
Street, near Dearborn. 

Hooley's Theater. — Located conveniently on 
Randolph, between Clark and La Salle Streets, is 
devoted to all sorts of attractions, and is one of 
the handsomest theaters of its size in the country. 
The patrons of Hooley's may run the gamut from 
low comedy to grand opera ; and Irish comedy- 



38 



drama often following immediately after one of the 
high-class engagements, such as that of the Mad- 
ison Square or Lyceum Theater Companies. 

Columbia Theater. — In the very heart of the 
business district, on the south side of Monroe, be- 




tween Dear 
born and 
Clark Streets. 
This theater is 
one of the oldest 
in the city, and 
has passed 
through many managements, being at present under 
the direction of the Hayman Bros, and Mr. Will 
J. Davis, both of whom are gentlemen of the highest 
standing in the profession and thorougly competent 
to cater to the desires of an amusement-loving pub- 
lic. The attractions presented at the Columbia 
are of a wide range, the properties of the house 



39 

being suited to the production of grand or light 
opera more than anything else. Some of the first 
artists in the world have appeared at the Columbia, 
notably, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, the latter 
having, on one memorable night, formally christened 
the theater which, prior to that time, was known 
as Haverley's; Sara Bernhardt, Adelina Patti, 
Christine Nielsson, and others almost equally fa- 
mous. The seating capacity of the Columbia is 
as large as that of any of the down-town theaters 
and it possesses the advantage of large, comforta- 
ble seats, very liberally spaced, that other mana- 
gers might do well to emulate. 

The "Provincial" Theaters. — -The houses 
mentioned are known as the " down -town " or high- 
priced theaters, the scale of prices ranging from 
25 cents to $1.50 per seat. In addition to these, 
however, there are a number of houses, some of 
which are equally large, scattered about in the 
three sections of the city, which are known as the 
"second class" or " provincial'* theaters, where 
the price of admission ranges from 15 cents to 
$1.00. Of these may be mentioned the following : 
South Side — Alhambra, State and Archer Ave.; 
Madison Street Opera House, 83 Madison Street; 
Olympic, 46 South Clark Street; Havlin's, Wa- 
bash and 19th Street; People's, 339 State Street. 
North Side. — Clark Street Theater, Clark and 



40 



Kinzie Streets ; Criterion, 374 Sedgwick Street ; 
Windsor, 459 North Clark Street. West Side. — 
Haymarket, 169 West Madison Street; Lyceum, 
58 South Desplaines Street ; Standard, 167 South 
Halsted Street ; Halsted Street Theater, Halsted 
and West Congress Streets. 

The outside, or provincial theaters usually offer 
a more sensational type of plays, specimens of the 
wild and woolly border drama being usually pre- 
sented for the edification of their mercurial patrons. 
The Park Theater, 335 State Street, ought not to 
rank with the other theaters, but is often patron- 
ized by travelers whose tastes lead them to desire 
entertainment of the more democratic type. The 
accessories of tobacco smoke and liquid refresh- 
ment, which are to be indulged in at the Park, form 
an attraction that they find it impossible to resist, 
nor is it difficult for a patron, whose pocketbook 
enables him to indulge in such luxuries, to obtain 
an introduction through the influence of the mana- 
ger to the more or less fascinating ** fairies," who 
go through their performances on the stage. Fur- 
ther mention of the Park will be made later. 

The Dime Museums. — Chicago is probably 
more bountifully supplied than any other city in the 
Dime Museum line. It is not necessary to partic- 
ularize as to the various houses of this character; 
they are scattered in all quarters of the city, and in 




THE COLUMBIA. 
GRAND OPERA HOUSE. 



MCVICKER'S. 

THE AUDITORIUM. 

THE SCHILLER THEATRE. 



HOOLEY'S THEATRE. 
CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE. 



41 

them is to be found infinite material for entertain- 
ment and instruction at the modest admission fee 
of 10 cents. The freaks of all climes are to be 
found on exibition and most of the museums throw 
in a stage performance of some some kind more or 
less meritorious, A favorite plan of a party, large 
or small, desirous of a little quiet fun, is to execute 
a ''Dime Museum Raid,'* as it is called. They 
assemble at the hotel or other meeting place, and 
start out on a tour of the various museums, visit- 
ing each in turn, with, of course, the usual inter- 
mission for drinks. The amount of fun to be 
obtained from such an excursion can easily be 
imamned. Aside from the entertainment to be de- 
rived from viewing the freaks on exibition, it is a 
very easy matter to discover food for mirth in the 
freaks among the audience. There is a happy-go- 
lucky atmosphere in a Dime Musenm which is not 
found elsewhere, and the Dime Museum *'raiders" 
are in the habit of getting much more than their 
money's worth ; but so long as their fun does not 
end in a fight, there need be no cause for com- 
plaint. A thing that should be looked into is the 
attendance at certain of these cheap shows of 
young girls whose tender youth leads one to mar- 
vel why their parents do not manage to keep them 
at home, or, failing that, to box their ears and 
send them to bed for their contumacy. It is not 
the province of the writer, however, to purify the 



42 

morals of this great and growing town, so let those 
"kick" who will. 

The Casino. — This resort, formerly known as 
the Eden Musee, is a unique place of amusement, 
situated on the west side of Wabash Avenue just 
north of Jackson Street. Its leading feature is a 
magnificent wax-work exhibit, which good judges 
say almost equals the famous resort of Madame 
Tussaud in London. All the famous characters in 
history, past and present, are reproduced in life-like 
manner. There is also a ** Chamber of Horrors," 
which may be visited by those who desire to feel 
their flesh creep. On the top floor is a roomy 
amphitheater, in which a good stage show is al- 
ways in progress, and the rear part of which is 
filled with neat, round tables, where the patrons 
may indulge in light refreshments of various sorts. 
The admission fee to the Casino is 50 cents, which 
entitles the visitor to all the privileges of the house 
without extra charge. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE AUDITORIUM AND THE NEW GERMAN THEATER. 

DETAILED mention 
of the magnificent opera 
J house in the Auditorium 
building has been re- 
served until now in order 
that it might take its proper 
place in the description of 
the mighty edifice which is 
the wonder and admiration 
of the United States, and a 
topic of comment to some ex- 
tent in Europe. 
The project of the Auditorium, three sides of 
which face Wabash Avenue, Congress Street and 
Michigan Avenue, is said to have emanated from 
the brain of Mr. Ferd W. Peck, a capitalist, who, 
in a speech to the Commercial Club, outlined the 
advantages that would be likely to accrue to the 
city from the possession of such a building. As 
the Auditorium is one of the sights of the city, it 
deserves a special description. 

The Auditorium Hotel, mention of which has 
been made in a previous chapter, fronts on Michi- 
gan Avenue and occupies the upper floor of the 




44 

building, the colossal outlines and massive archi- 
tecture of which, rivaling as they do the ancient 
Coliseum of Rome, strike the beholder dumb with 
admiration. The stock company that constructed 
the Auditorium was formed at Mr, Peck's sug- 
gestion in the spring of 1886, and in January of 
the following year work was commenced upon it. 
Less than eighteen months afterward the building 
had progressed to a stage that made it possible to 
hold the National Convention of 1888 under the 
roof of the great theater. On that occasion 12,- 
000 people cheered the nomination of Harrison as 
the presidential candidate. The formal dedication 
of the great structure took place December 9, 
1889, The star of the occasion was Adelina Patti, 
the world-famous singer, who, although she had 
dyed her hair a brilliant red, aroused a cyclone of 
enthusiasm by her time-honored rendition of 
"Home, Sweet Home." Speeches were made by 
Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States; 
by DeWitt C. Cregier, then Mayor of Chicago; 
by Ferd W. Peck, President of the Auditorium 
Company, and others. It required an expendi- 
ture of nearly $2,000,000 in hard cash to erect the 
Auditorium, and the men who invested their money 
in the project are drawing a fair Interest on the 
amount of their wise venture. The building has 
a frontage of 187 feet on Michigan Avenue, 361 feet 
on Congress Street, and 161 feet on Wabash Ave- 



45 

nue. The material used is mostly American gran- 
ite from Maine and Minnesota ; the ornamentation 
being largely in Mexican onyx. To the visitor 
who stands rapt in admiration at the sight of 
this superb edifice, a few figures may not be unin- 
teresting. The main building is 144 feet in height; 
the tower on the Congress Street side, 225 feet, 
with lateral dimensions of 40x71 feet. The build- 
ing weighs in its entirety 110,000 tons. There 
are 17,000,000 brick in the building and 50,000,- 
000 pieces of marble. The flooring is in Antique 
Mosaic. 

Now for the theater itself, which is, after all, the 
main interior attraction of the Auditorium, the 
smaller halls and office suites which are contained 
in the main structure possessing only a commercial 
interest. The theater has a regular seating ca- 
pacity of 4,000, though when it is arranged for a 
convention or a ball it will hold three times that 
number. The stage is ninety-eight feet in width 
and 6,862 square feet in area. The great lobby 
with its massive pillars and porticos, prepares the 
visitor for the sublime magnificence of the im- 
mense audience chamber. The ceiling, which is 
decorated in white and gold, glitters with a myriad 
of electric lamps and the spectacular effect, when the 
house is filled with a fashionable audience, the long 
tiers of boxes gleaming with the brilliant cos- 
tumes and jewels of scores of handsome women, 



46 

surpasses description. It must be seen to be ap- 
preciated. The Auditorium theater is equipped, 
among other things, with an organ that is said to 
be the finest and most complete in the world, pos- 
sessing as it does, 7,193 pipes. 

But without question the tower is a stupendous 
feature of the Auditorium and is most popular with 
strangers ; it may be said that no stranger should 
leave the city without visiting it. Enter from the 
Congress Street side and purchase a ticket at the 
box office, costing twenty-five cents. The elevator 
carries you up at rapid speed to the top. The 
final ascent is made by a small flight of iron stairs 
and the tower is reached. The splendor of the 
view from this tower can be imagined but not de- 
scribed. On a clear day the Michigan shore is 
discernible far away over the blue water of the 
lake, while on the east side, north and south the 
eye may penetrate to the furthest lim^its of the city. 
To stand there and look down on the mazes oi 
buildings and the swarming thousands of your fel- 
lowmen produces a strange feeling of awe and 
wonderment. The popularity of the tower with 
sight-seers may be imagined from the fact that the 
attendance brings in an average of $120 per day to 
the company throughout the year. 

Preparations are now in progress for the pres- 
entation at the Auditorium during the World's 
Fair year of a theatrical spectacle which shall 



47 

eclipse anything of the kind ever before seen in 
any country. The plans are yet in embryo, but a 
rough outline has been drawn. The production, 
which is to be historical in character, will be under 
the direction of Managers Adams, Abbey and 
Grau. It will open in the spring of 1893, and run 
through the World's Fair season. 

The New German Theater on Randolph 
Street, between Dearborn and Clark, deserves 
special mention by reason of the fact that it will 
be the youngest of all Chicago first-class theaters, 
and because great promises have been made as 
to the magnificence of its furnishings and equip- 
ment. The structure is fire-proof, nine stories in 
height with a large square tower fifteen feet in height 
surmounted by a cupola. The main building fronts 
eigthy-four feet on Randolph Street with a depth 
of 186^ feet. There will be a covered balcony 
in front from which street parades may be advan- 
tageously viewed. The cornices, balustrades and 
other parts of the building are decorated with rich 
carvings. The construction is of steel columns 
and cross-beams, the outer walls being in terra 
cotta. The main entrance leading to the theater 
is thirty-two feet wide. All the floors and wains- 
coting are in polished marble. From the entrance 
to the theater foyer will extend two vestibules, in 
the inner one of which the box office is located. 
Four passenger elevators furnish access to the 



48 

hotel and club rooms of which the main portion of 
the palatial structure will consist. Broad marble 
stairs lead from the foyer to the main floor, 
balcony and gallery of the theater, the Auditorium 
plan of seating the people having been decided 
upon. The theater will seat 1,300 people. The 
stage has a superficial area of 3,200 square feet, 
with a proscenium arch twenty-nine feet wide and 
thirty feet high. 

Seven stories of the building are devoted to the 
hotel, which also deserves a word of description. 
There are 131 guest chambers, 39 bath rooms, a 
dining room 76 feet long by 49 wide, and other 
features. The hotel will of course have a separate 
entrance. Club, billiard, card, and other rooms 
occupy the tenth floor. The eleventh is devoted 
to a fine ball room, separate quarters being pro- 
vided for the servants on the floors above. 

The total cost of this fine structure is estimated 
at $600,000, inclusive of the price paid for the 
ground. The building is erected by a company of 
which the following well-known citizens are direct- 
ors: A. C. Hesing, Theodore Arnold, Louis 
Wolff, Edward Eiblein, Franz Amberg, Charles 
Wacker, C. P. Dose, Louis Wampold, J. A. Orb, 
Joseph Scheurer, William Heineman, George E. 
Weiss, John M. Krause, C. Herman Plautz, and 
Theodore Oehne. 

It goes without saying that this will be an at- 
tractive place for strangers to visit. 



CHAPTER IV. 

TWO UNIQUE PLAYHOUSES. 

THE Madison Street 
Opera House and the Park 
Theater, which were briefly 
mentioned in the preced- 
ing chapter, are two resorts 
that may be regarded as 
occupying a unique posi- 
tion in the amusement 
roster. The Madison 
Street Opera House gives 
two performances daily 
and its manager, the vet- 
eran Colonel Sam T. Jack, 
is reputed to be coining money. The size of the 
audiences that fill Col. Jack's theater twice a day 
is attributable, possibly, to the fact that the house 
is devoted entirely to the presentation of burlesque. 
Companies of more or less merit appear from 
week to week, and in order that they may secure 
a 'Mate," it is necessary that they possess a num- 
ber of shapely women in the cast, An artist would 
probably call the costumes of the ladies who ap- 
pear at the Madison Street Opera House artistic. 




so 

Certain it is that if they were constructed on any 
other plan than that of the present one they could 
not possibly convey a more liberal view of *'the 
female form divine." Indeed, there was one en- 
gagement that included the presentation of a series 
of classic tableaux, in which the complete suits of 
skintights that the ladies wore, were if anything 
more attractive than no costumes at all. No 
drinks are served in the Madison Street Theater 
itself, but it is situated over a large saloon which 
is easy of access by means of a staircase leading 
directly into the parquet. It is needless to say, 
perhaps, that the nature of the spectacular gems 
to be seen on the Madison Street Opera House 
stages are strongly calculated to produce thirst — es- 
pecially in a masculine audience. Not very long ago 
the Chicago J/<3:// undertook to "roast" the Madi- 
son Street Opera House, and to stigmatize its 
performances as improper. Mr. Jack at once sued 
the paper for libel. If a jury should have a notion 
to visit the theater it might materially assist in the 
rendition of a verdict in accordance with the facts. 
The Park Theater, situated on State Street, in 
the "Levee," or "Tenderloin" district, is even 
more democratic. Drinks are sold and consumed 
during the stage performance, and smoking is al- 
lowed. This is a favorite resort for "bloods" who, 
having come to town for fun, propose to see all 
there is in it. A party of three or four who pur- 



51 



chase a box may, if they 
choose, enjoy the society 
of the actresses 
who will visit 
them between 




acts and have a 
pleasant, social 
time. It is within the 
bounds of decorum to 
invite the fair perform- 
ers to drink, and if an 
acquaintance so auspi- 
ciously begun should be carried to even more agree- 
able lengths, why, who is going to complain so 
long as the City authorities permit its open pro- 
gramme? Not the manager, surely. He is there 
to see that his guests have a good time and will 
exercise all his efforts to the procurement of that 
end. 

There are several wine-rooms upstairs, and in 
these one may enjoy a tete-a-tete and a bottle of 
champagne with his chosen charmer, if his inclina- 
tions (and his pocketbook) will permit him to go 
to that length. An amusing feature of the regime 
at the Park is the system whereby the actresses 



52 

keep matters straight with ''the house.** Under 
the rules, each *'lady" is allowed a percentage on 
the money received for drinks that she causes to 
be purchased. She carries a memorandum book 
and pencil, and jots down every cocktail or whiskey 
straight that her admirer (for the moment) may 
purchase. After the " show," when the audience 
departs, she goes to the bar and tallies up with the 
barkeeper. A balance is struck at the end of the 
week and the money paid over. An idea of the 
informality of the performances at the Park may be 
gathered from the fact that when James Owen 
O'Connor played there awhile ago, a lot of boys 
went about in the theater selling stale cats, cab- 
bages and other garden produce to the audience — 
the same to be used for the purpose of pelting the 
actor! Anyone who wishes to see a *' tough" 
audience and a "tough" show will find what he 
wants at the Park, which seems to be entirely 
within the idea of police regulation, nevertheless. 



CHAPTER V. 



FREE AND EASY SHOWS. 

UNDER this caption 
come the entertainments of 
a more or less unstilted 
character; that is to 
|%say, entertainments 
that, while being in no 
., wise disreputable, are 
^. nevertheless arranged 
^d^- 1 with a view of catering 
to the tastes of people 
of both sexes who do 
not care to spend the 
evening in the narrow 
confines and the mat- 
ter-of-fact atmosphere of a regular theatre. 
The modern music hall, or ca/e chantant, of 
which there are so many in Paris and Lon- 
don, has not yet been duplicated to any 
great extent in this city. There are, however, 
a few places of the kind, widely separated 
by distance, that resemble the ''old country" 
music hall in some respects. The old beer 
dens of noisome character that formed a blot 
upon the city's escutcheon in earlier days 




54 

have quite disappeared, and the few music 
halls that still flourish, besides being of a 
much more pretentious character, have in 
their management a much stronger claim to 
toleration. At any of these places an evening 
may be spent without serious prejudice to one's 
morals and without contamination of any sort. 
If the jokes are a little ^'rocky" and the antics 
of the actors and actresses just a shade off 
color when viewed from the stand-point of 
strict propriety there is no reason why the 
spectator should go home convulsed with a 
sense of the depravity of the city that can suffer 
such things to be. The pleasure of the enter- 
tainment at these places is enhanced to a 
greater or less extent, according to the taste of 
the attendant, by the latter's ability to solace 
himself with such liquid refreshments as his 
system may crave during the progress of the 
show. He may also smoke like a chimney if 
he so desires. 

The old Tivoli restaurant and concert hall 
on Dearborn street, just below Madison, which 
was made famous by the assassination therein 
of Jim Elliott, the prize fighter, by Jere Dunn 
(the slayer being afterward acquitted on the 
ground of self-defense), has long since passed 
into oblivion and on its site, the scene of so 
many wonderful revelries, a fine office building 



55 

now stands. When the Tivoli passed away 
there was for a long time a dearth of music 
halls in Chicago. At present, however, there 
are at least three resorts of the kind that may 
be mentioned for the enhghtenment of those 
who desire to investigate this class of enter- 
tainment. 

Over on the North Side, on the west side of 
Clark street, a few doors north of Division 
street, there is an establishment which in some 
respects is unique. It is reached either by 
the North side cable cars or by hansom cab, 
the fare for the latter being fifty cents for each 
person. This resort is known as Engel's, and 
for several seasons past it has been the favor- 
ite with the blooded youth of the North side as 
well as of a large clientele of chance visitors. It 
was formerly kept by a man named Matthai 
and adjoining it was a smaller resort kept by a 
Monsieur Andre. Andre is now dead and his 
place closed. On the site of Mr. Matthai's 
triumphs Mr. Engel now lives and flourishes. 

Enter Engel's at any time between eight 
and nine in the evening, after having paid the 
modest admission fee of ten cents, and you will 
find the large hall, with its imposing array of 
polished tables and rows of seats, rather sparsely 
filled. The early part of the performance con- 
sists of a series of musical numbers rendered 



56 

by the orchestra, the members of which now 
and then take a lay-off for drinks. By lo o'clock, 
however, there is a perceptible increase in the 
attendance and the white-aproned waiters are 
kept busy rushing to and fro supplying the 
wants of thirsty customers. The visitor, mean- 
while, has been supplied with a printed pro- 
gramme which tells him what artists, ladies or 
gentlemen, are to appear that evening, and the 
manner in which they will endeavor to amuse 
the auditors. The curtain rises and a pert 
soubrette with a very gaudy complexion and 
abbreviated skirts trips to the foot-lights and 
sings a song of true love or something else 
equally interesting. She may awaken a hurri- 
cane of applause and then again she may not. 
The stars of the troupe are usually reserved for 
the latter part of the programme. Meanwhile 
more drinks are ordered by everybody and by 
1 1 o'clock a general spirit of hilarity prevails, 
which is testified to by the added enthusiasm 
with which the advancing and retiring favorites 
are greeted. The last hour of the entertainment, 
between ii and 12 o'clock, is usually devoted to 
a more ambitious effort of some kind. It may 
be an opera in one act, a burlesque of the cur- 
rent follies of the day, or anything else that will 
give an opportunity for the singing of '"catchy" 
songs, the execution of intricate dances and. 



57 

above and beyond all, the lavish display of 
feminine charms. It is a pleasant custom of 
the place for young men of means, possessed 
of more money than sense, to purchase bou- 
quets, which are carried up and down the 
aisles on trays by attractive flower girls, and 
cast the same upon the stage at their especial 
favorites. When a more than usually attract- 
ive damsel sings an unusually taking song 
the boards upon which she treads are often 
fairly deluged with flowers, and the degree of 
grace with which she stoops to pick them up 
enhances in just that ratio the warmth of the 
plaudits which she receives. It is perhaps un- 
necessary to say that daring this latter part of 
the show the added attractions of the spectacle 
presented, together with the concentrated en- 
thusiasm of the performers, all grouped on the 
stage at once, increases the general demand for 
refreshments. The waiters are fairly scurrying 
hither and thither and the consumption of 
stimulating beverages is something enormous. 
During all this "Papa" Engel, as he is affec- 
tionately termed by his coterie of more youthful 
patrons, looks on with a bland and satisfied 
smile, noting with evident enjoyment the merry 
spirits of his guests and the rapidity with which 
they are enriching his coffers. 

The ground floor of Engel's is exclusively 



58 

devoted to the sterner sex. No ladies are al- 
lowed are that floor; up above, however, a 
roomy balcony runs around the hall and lady 
patrons of all ages and grades of attractiveness 
sit at the tables with their escorts and enjoy 
the entertainment with the rest. No gentle- 
man is allowed in the balcony unaccompanied 
by a lady and no lady can enter it unescorted. 
The popping of corks and the sparkle of cham- 
pagne are perpetual adjuncts to this part of the 
house and the balcony itself, it is safe to say, 
forms no inconsiderable part of Mr. Engel's 
gold mine. Nobody who does not wish to buy 
anything, however, is ever requested to do so, 
the ten cents admission fee entitling the visitor 
to every privilege of the house. Occasionally^ 
it is true, a bit of disorder may break out, 
caused by some indiscreet visitor imbibing 
not wisely but too well, but it is very speedily 
squelched and there is no case on record where 
a person guilty of causing disorder in Engel's 
ever repeated the offense. 

Another feature of Engel's, and many people 
find it an agreeable one, is the stage boxes. 
These boxes are located above the stage and 
behind the curtain, being arranged in such a 
way that persons seated therein may view all 
that is going forward on the stage itself and 
still remain invisible to the audience. With 



59 

prominent citizens, or other people who like to 
keep their attendance at the music hall a secret, 
this is an advantage not to be denied. Occu- 
pants of stage boxes, far from being denied the 
privileges of quenching their thirst, are granted 
every facility for so doing. There is a neat 
table in the rear of the box and an obsequious 
waiter stands steadily at the door ready to min- 
ister to the wants of patrons. It is quite per- 
missible, if the occupant of a stage box desires, 
to send the waiter around behind the scenes to 
inquire whether this or that fair actress will not 
deign to imbibe something at your expense, an 
attention which she duly acknowledges by 
stepping daintily up beneath the box and, as 
she quaffs the soothing beverage, nodding her 
thanks to the donor. A spirit of good nature 
prevails throughout the entire performance and 
when it is all over nobody has been hurt very 
much by his contact with this strange element 
of life in a great city. 

There is another feature of Engel's which 
merits a word or two of mention. Promptly at 
12 o'clock, in obedience to the mandate of the 
city fathers, the front doors of the place are 
closed as tight as a drum. Adjoining the bar, 
however, is a commodious cafe where parties of 
friends, from two to ten in number, may sit 
down and enjoy any sort of a repast thiat their 



6o 



appetites may crave, with all the liquid access- 
ories thrown in. You, young man, who may 
have become interested in an especially charm- 
ing member of Mr. Engel's corps de ballet, may, 
if you stay in this cafe long enough, possibly be 
rewarded by a sight of your charmer for a mo- 
ment, emerging from behind the scenes in her 
street clothes after the performance. You are 
tolerably safe from giving her offense if you offer 
her refreshment at your expense, though if it 




happens that she is accompanied by a stalwart 
cavalier who appears to exert a proprietory in- 
fluence over her, it is just as well to reserve 
your attention for some more appropriate sea- 
son. Some of Mr. Engel's coryphees take 
supper regularly every night in his cafe, the 
costs of such meals presumably being charged 
against their salary, unless some outside devotee 
at their various shrines should feel an inclina- 
tion to pay the bills. Mr. Engel himself, ani- 
mated by we know not what generous impulse, 



6i 

has been known to sit at the head of a long 
table, around which were grouped a dozen or so 
of the lady members of his troupe, and cheer- 
fully invite them to eat or drink their fill at his 
expense. Some wag, who noticed this specta- 
cle on one occasion, made an observation to the 
effect that Mr. Engel seemed to be having a 
good time with his harem, and for that reason, 
possibly, it has been customary among the flip- 
pant and irreverent young men who frequent 
the place to jocosely refer to it over their wine 
as ''Engel's harem." 

All in all, it is not such a bad sort of place to 
visit, especially if the visitor is desirous of see- 
ing something a little unusual in a place where 
he will not be bothered by a demand for a too 
strict observance of the proprieties. In any 
event it is a good place to go if you happen to 
be in that part of the town after midnight and 
are possessed of a thirst of the sort that only 
some of the choice alcoholic liquids dispensed 
by Mr. Engel and his aids can quench. 

On the South side are two well-patronized re- 
sorts that, while resembling Engel's in some re- 
spects, differ from it in others. Baum's Pavil- 
ion, situated at the point where 2 2d street and 
Cottage Grove and Indiana avenues merge 
together in a sort of triangle, has been famous 
for many years as a concert hall, cafe and dance 



62 

house. It is a large structure of two stories 
and adjoining the building is an open, air ex- 
panse or beer garden, dotted with trees, which 
is always crowded on summer nights. The 
pavilion is reached from three sides; the main 
door faces north and entrance can be had 
either through the beer garden on Cottage 
Grove avenue or through the restaurant on In- 
diana avenue. The style of entertainment pre- 
sented at Baum's varies from week to week. 
Sometimes it is a first-class variety show, at 
other times Mr. Baum grows more ambitious 
and puts on a full-fledged comic opera troupe 
as an additional divertisement. The admission 
fee is 25 cents and the visitor may select his 
seat according to his fancy. If it is the sum- 
mer season (that is when Baum's pavilion is 
best patronized) the open air garden is only 
separated from the hall where the opera is in 
progress by open arches, and one may sit at his 
table and smoke and drink with nothing but the 
blue vault of heaven for a roof and at the same 
time have wafted to his ears the exhilarating 
music from the stage within. 

While the stage show is, of course, the prin- 
cipal feature of Baum's and the one from which 
the establishment draws its steady patronage, 
the dances that are given there usually every 
Saturday and Sunday night, at the nominal ad- 



63 

mission fee of fifty cents per couple, are always 
numerously attended. In the winter season, 
when the garden is too frosty to be agreeable 
and is closed up in consequence, the dances are 
held in the hall above the saloon; but in the 
radiant summer, wheh dancing is at best a 
fatiguing pleasure, they take place on the ground 
floor. Between the dances the revelers may 
adjoin to the open air and partake of whatever 
refreshments their hearts and souls most desire. 
It is a "free and easy" spot but, as in all other 
places of the kind, the best of order is always 
maintained, the least semblance of unruly con- 
duct being sternly checked by the management. 
Any one who violates a second time the system 
of etiquette that governs the place is promptly 
pitched into the street and never again admitted 
to the hallowed precincts unless he manages to 
conceal his identity. 

The crowd that attend the summer night 
dances afford excellent opportunity for study; all 
classes of men and women are represented there. 
The well-to-do club man who stays at a distance 
and sips his lemonade in peace and quiet is con- 
tent to find his share of amusement in watching 
the antics of the throng; the hard-working and 
respectable mechanic, who works his best at his 
trade for six days in the week, is evidently en- 
joying the bit of recreation that is yielded to him 



64 

there. Scattered in the crowd are salesmen, 
barbers, bookmakers, bakers, butchers and 
almost every other type of the young manhood 
of the day. Perhaps there may be a few con- 
fidence men, bunco steerers, and types of even 
more dangerous classes, but they are not to be 
feared. They are there for recreation, not for 
business; for they know very well that if they 
made the slightest effort to ply their call- 
ing in that place they would be promptly 
spotted and handed over to the authorities. 
As to the feminine portion of the assemblage, 
one is at a loss to convey an adequate idea of it 
in an off-hand description; it varies with the 
seasons and the weather. As a general thing, 
however, you will see there from fifty to two 
hundred girls and women, some of them the 
wives and sisters of the mechanics and trades- 
men above mentioned, who, like their male 
relatives, are out for a good time, but the ma- 
jority are young girls of quite independent 
standing — servant girls, saleswomen and others, 
many of them strangers in the city, perhaps, 
possessed of no sterner guardians than their 
own consciences, and are pleased to select what- 
ever means may suit them best to pass their 
spare time. They see no reason why they 
should not spend at least one evening in a little 
uproarious festivity. When the dance is at its 



65 

height and the enthusiasm of the dancers roused 
to its highest pitch the visitor invariably re- 
ceives the worth of his money. It does him 
good to see so many people enjoying themselves, 
and there is very little doubt that if he is of 
fairly presentable appearance and sufficiently 
discreet to work the matter rightly he may 
without much difficulty obtain a partner for him 
self and join in the general Tnelee of ecstatic en- 
joyment. As a general thing the festivity winds 
up about midnight, but if a few select parties 
desire to remain a little longer no very serious 
objection is likely to be made. A very agreeable 
evening may be passed in this place and the 
fact that the pavilion has remained where it 
now stands for more years than one cares to 
count without any serious protest from the aris- 
tocratic residents of this neighborhood, speaks 
well for the order with which it is conducted. 

On the east side of 31st street, between 
Rhodes and Vernon avenues, there is a much 
more pretentious concert and dance hall than 
either of those previously mentioned. It, also, 
is the enterprise of the same Mr. Baum who 
runs the 22nd street place. It is a much more 
imposing structure, having a stone front and a 
wide entrance brilliantly lighted by electricity. 
An admission fee of ten cents is charged and 
the great hall at the rear, in which the stage 



66 

performance takes place, will accommodate 
nearly one thousand people. Much the same 
class of entertainments as those to be witnessed 
at Engel's are presented here, with the differ- 
ence, however, that there are no stage boxes, 
no balcony for ladies and no means, so far as 
one may ascertain, of making acquaintances 
among the performers. Occasionally some 
singers of higher merit procure engagements at 
this place and the quality of the music that 
they contribute to the entertainment is not im- 
proved upon in many of the down -town theatres. 
Half of the hall, the east side, is reserved for 
ladies escorted by gentlemen; the other half is 
for the exclusive use of the male patrons. Re- 
freshments of all sorts are served all through 
the evening at the polished round tables, thus 
enabling the visitor to satisfy his hunger, as 
well as his thirst, with any sort of a meal during 
the progress of the performance. 

On the second floor is a ball-room of impos- 
ing dimensions and magnificent furnishings. On 
off nights it is rented out to various societies 
for their dances, but on very frequent occasions 
the proprietor advertises a ball that is invaria- 
bly attended by the youth and beauty of the 
middle classes residing in the neighborhood. 
As is the case at all places where liquor is in- 
discriminately dispensed, a pleasant feeling of 



6; 

informality, not to say hilarity, prevails; the 
chance visitor, who may nearly always procure 
admission for himself and his fair companion, 
if he has one, by the payment of the stipulated 
fee, may be certain of passing a pleasant time. 

There is a place on the West side, near the 
Ashland club, 575 Washington boulevard, which 
is for that reason known as the Ashland Club 
Annex. There is no especial reason for men- 
tioning it save that the weary way-farer, if he 
happens to learn the pass-word for the night, 
may enter at almost any hour and secure hilar- 
ious enjoyment. The place nearly always con- 
tains a rollicking crowd of young men who are 
up to any and every sort of mischief, and man- 
age by their antics to create unlimited amuse- 
ment for any strangers who choose to happen 
in. As a rule the ''pass -word," if it may be so 
called, consists in a series of variegated taps on 
the window with the end of a lead pencil, their 
number and regularity signifying to those inside 
whether the applicant is to be trusted or not. 
This precaution is considered necessary on ac- 
count of the fondness of the West side police- 
men for descending upon such places entirely 
without notice and carting off all the inmates to 
the station on a wholesale charge of disorderly 
conduct, which disorderly conduct consists in 
their frequenting such a place after lawful hours. 



68 

It has been a long time, however, since such a 
raid was made. 

The Lyceum theatre, while perhaps not de- 
serving of the title of a free and easy resort, is, 
nevertheless, a place where variety shows of a 
broad description are to be seen at any time. 
The Olympic, on South Clark street, opposite 
the Sherman House, is another resort of the 
same calibre. There is an afternoon show at the 
Olympic every day in the week, and as a rule it 
attracts good audiences. The rates of admis- 
sion at both of these places are very low, and, 
considering that fact, the entertainments offered 
are in every way satisfactory. 




CHAPTER VI. 

CHURCHES AND CHURCH SERVICES. 

WITH a large portion of 
the people who remain in 
Chicago over Sunday the 
desire to attend some sort 
of divine service, as well as 
to see some of the princi- 
pal edifices devoted to relig- 
ion, is the first thought 
on awakening. The finest 
churches are located at a 
distance from the business centre. Before 
the fire there were a number of churches in 
the heart of the down-town district, but when 
they were once destroyed they were never 
rebuilt and it is along the residence streets 
that the handsomest structures may be seen. 
The transient population is cared for, how-, 
ever, by clergymen who hold services in cer- 
tain of the theatres Sunday mornings — of 
whose work more anon. 

The churches of Chicago represent every 
Christian denomination, there being nearly 500 
places of worship the total Sabbath attendance 
at which is estimated at 120,000. Among these 



JO 

are many splendid specimens of architecture, 
but the two great Catholic edifices, the Church 
of the Holy Family, corner of May and West 
Twelfth streets, and the Holy Name cathedral, 
corner of North State and Superior streets — are 
the most imposing from an architectural stand- 
point. Other noteworthy churches are the 
Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, Grace and 
Trinity (Episcopal), Immanuel (Baptist), Second 
Presbyterian, Plymouth and New England 
(Congregational), St. Paul's (Universalist), Cen- 
tenary (Methodist), Unity and the Church of the 
Messiah (Unitarian). 

There are some very eloquent preachers in 
Chicago and a visitor who does not attend a 
church solely for the purpose of getting inside 
of it and seeking forgiveness for his sins may 
enjoy a very profitable hour in listening to an 
admirable sermon in any quarter of the city he 
may choose to select. There are several 
clergymen in Chicago who receive $6,000 to 
$8,000 per year, and at least three whose sal- 
aries, it is said, are |i 0,000. 

The principal churches of the West side are 
located for the most part along Washington 
and Ashland boulevards, and there is a cluster 
of them in the vicinity of Jefferson and Union 
parks — small breathing-places a couple of miles 
from the business centre. The church district 



71 

of the North side is between Clark and Dear- 
born streets and north of Ontario. On the 
South side the principal religious edifices are 
east of State street and south of Twenty-second, 
the buildings growing finer, as a rule, the fur- 
ther south one goes. There are several very 
fine churches in the recently-annexed suburb of 
Hyde Park if one cares to travel that distance. 
It is a peaceful feeling, if nothing else, to find 
oneself within sacred walls on a bright Sabbath 
morning, and if it is merely for sight-seeing 
that you find yourself there — which it is to be 
hoped is not the case — you will not be dis- 
appointed. If there are ladies in your party 
they will be on the lookout, as ladies always 
are, for fine clothes worn by other ladies, and if 
so, why it is very certain they will not be dis- 
appointed. Some of the South side congrega- 
tions are very wealthy. In some of them a dozen 
of the male worshipers could raise between 
them enough ready mone}^ to buy up several 
adjacent blocks — say a million dollars apiece — 
which, considering that, according to Holy Writ, 
*'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of 
a needle than for a rich man to be saved," or 
words to that effect, makes the spiritual out- 
look for these wealthy gentlemen a poor one. 
However, it is always interesting to watch how 
rich men behave themselves in church and one 



72 

of the ushers will not be likely to refuse to point 
out to you a devout millionaire or two if you 
ask him to do so. 

Speaking of high salaried preachers (though 
the highest-salaried are not always the most 
popular) suggests the mention of a few of 
the most celebrated divines of the city: Rev. 
S. J. McPherson, pastor of the Second Pres- 
byterian church, Michigan avenue and Twen- 
tieth street, always preaches to a full church. 
Dr. McPherson is not a poor man himself, 
having been bequeathed a little fortune by the 
late John Crerar. Then, too, he has a large 
income for wedding fees, for he has such a 
charming manner in performing the ceremony 
that he is in great request with prospective brides. 
Dr. Gunsaulus, pastor of Plymouth Congrega- 
tional church, is also very popular. For a time 
he conducted Sunday evening services at Cen- 
tral Music Hall, State and Randolph streets, 
but abandoned that field to the Rev. Fla- 
vins J. Brobst, who in turn retired. The famous 
Jewish pastor of the city is Rabbi Emil G. 
Hirsch, of Siinai congregation, Indiana avenue 
and Twenty-first street, who is also a writer of 
some renown. Many Christians attend this 
church for the sake of the Rabbi's eloquent ser- 
mons, which are liberal and large-hearted enough 
to suit all denominations. A preacher of the good 



73 

old, stern, denunciatory stripe is Dr. Poindexter 
S. Henson, of the First Baptist church, corner 
of South Park avenue and Thirty-first street. 
Dr. Henson's sermons are pitched very fre- 
quently in a topical key. He would just as 
soon discuss politics as the Bible from his pul- 
pit, and whenever the city administration stands 
in need of a little "roasting" the Rev. Poindexter 
is tolerably certain to supply the need. By 
reason of these sermons the Rev. Poin- 
dexter succeeds in getting himself into the news- 
papers about as often as any divine in town, 
and it is quite safe to say that the stranger who 
selects his church as the one to visit will not 
regret the selection. For those who admire a 
high church service the Episcopal cathedral, 
at the corner of Washington boulevard and 
Peoria street, will be found to answer all re- 
quirements; the Right Reverend Bishop Mc- 
Laren is the pastor. Dr. Clinton Locke pre- 
sides over Grace Episcopal church, 1445 Wa- 
bash avenue, with dignity and grace, and 
Bishop Cheney fills the pulpit of Christ's Epis- 
copal church, Michigan avenue and Twenty- 
fourth street. The Rev. J. P. Brushingham, a 
clergyman whose record was once marked by a 
particularly stormy series of events, draws good 
congregations to the Ada Street Methodist 
church. Dr. William Fawcett, another elo- 



74 

quent Methodist divine, preaches at Park Ave- 
nue church, on Park avenue, at the intersection 
of Robey street. Rev. Frank Bristol, pastor 
of Trinity Methodist church, Indiana avenue 
and Twenty-fourth street, is noted for his great 
store of learning as well as his flood of elo- 
quence, and so is Dr. N. T. Meloy, pastor of 
the First United Presbyterian church, Monroe 
and Paulina streets. Rev. M. Woolsey Stryker 
holds forth at the Fourth Presbyterian church, 
corner Rush and Superior streets, and the very 
aristocratic congregation of St. James', corner 
of Cass and Superior streets, is presided over 
by Dr. Tompkins. 

The clergymen above mentioned are among 
the most famous in the city, but there are 
many others almost equally prominent. The 
wayfarer, however, will be interested in learn- 
ing of the popularity of the services at "Central" 
church and the People's church, conducted at 
Central Music Hall and McVicker's theatre 
respectively by Prof. David Swing and Dr. H. 
W. Thomas. Both these gentlemen pos- 
sessed large f ollowings when their congregations 
were formed. Prof. Swing is one of the lead- 
ing personalities of the religious life of the city. 
He is a man of exceedingly plain exterior but 
his sermons are sound and forcible. It would 
be difficult to analyze his creed or that of the 



75 

people who go to hear him. Central Music 
Hall is filled every Sunday morning with a 
large gathering of well-to-do people whose 
religious ideas could not, perhaps, be very ac- 
curately defined, but who would not go any- 




where else under any inducement. There is 
also a large sprinkling of outsiders. The man- 
ner in which Prof. Swing's followers appre 
ciate his ministrations in their behalf is evidenced 
by their paying him a salary ample enough to 
enable him to build a palatial summer home at 



76 

Lake Geneva, a near-by hot weather resort 
whose grassy banks are lined with the villas of 
Chicago millionaires. Dr. Thomas is a little 
more orthodox in his tenets, perhaps, but his 
services are no less popular than Prof. 
Swing's. At both of these temples of worship, 
operated, as they are, in places devoted through- 
out the week to public amusement, chance visi- 
tors are made heartily welcome and many 
strangers who would not inconvenience them- 
selves to ride out to one of the orthodox 
churches take advantage of the nearness of 
these two to their hotels and drop in on Sun- 
day morning for an hour or so of spiritual 
enlightenment. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PANORAMAS AND LIBBY PRISON. 




THE panoramas of 
Chicago have become 
justly celebrated. They 
are patterned after the 
famous panoramas of 
Europe, being contain- 
ed in huge circular 
buildings. There are 
at present three pano- 
ramas — the Battle of 
Gettysburg and the 
Falls of Niagara, on 
Panorama Place, a mile south of Madison street 
on Wabash avenue, and Chicago on Fire — the 
latter being a splendid representation of Chicago 
as it looked at the time of the awful conflagra- 
tion that drew the eyes of the civilized world 
upon the suffering city. The Battle of Gettys- 
burg is the oldest of the three. The portrayal 
of the greatest battle of the war of the rebellion 
is realistic beyond description. It is impossible 
for the spectator to detect where the canvas 
blends with the natural presentation beneath 
the feet. Hundreds of thousands of people have 



78 ' 

visited this attraction. The Wabash avenue 
cable cars take the visitor direct to * 'Gettys- 
burg" and to ''Niagara," which is just across the 
street. "Niagara" is a faithful delineation of 
the world-famous falls, the portrayal being so 
realistic that the spectator, in fancy, can almost 
hear the roar of the water. 

The panorama depicting the fire is shown in 
the building formerly consecrated to the Battle 
of- Shiloh, on Michigan avenue, near Madison 
street. Here the visitor may stanc^ for an hour 
lost in wonder at the realism of the scene so 
artfully drawn on canvas. The panic of a great 
city in the throes of a hopeless battle with the 
destroying element is admirably pictured, and 
from a view of that speaking and truthful can- 
vas one may gain a slight idea of the bitter 
agony of those hours when the proud city was 
laid low in the face of as horrible a calamity as 
ever befell a community. The panoramas have 
a uniform admission fee of fifty cents. 

The Libby Prison War Museum, located on 
Wabash avenue, between Fourteenth and Six- 
teenth streets, belongs to the same class as the 
panoramas in the amusement category, inas- 
much as the visitor may enter and wander 
around for half a day or so if he chooses, taking 
his own time to view the attractions offered. 
Libby Prison is one of the leading permanent 



79 



attractions of the city. On the outside, front- 
ing on Wabash avenue, is a massive stone 
wall, and on the inside is the identical Libby 
Prison in which the soldiers of the north were 
incarcerated during the war. The building was 
purchased in Richmond by Chicago capitalists, 
and has been put up, brick for brick, exactly as 

it stood during the 



time when the na- 
tion was convulsed 
by the horrors of 
civil war. Within 
its walls will be 
found portraits of 
all the leading sol- 
diers and statesmen, 
northern and south- 
ern, of that period; 
all kinds of firearms 
and ammunition, an- 
cient and modern; a 
fine collection of historical documents, includ- 
ing the will made by John Brown an hour before 
his execution, and many other war relics. It 
may be easily imagined how deep an interest 
this place possesses for old soldiers, union or 
confederate. Old comrades, separated since 
the close of hostilities, often meet there, and 
many are the reminiscences exchanged. The 




8o 

Libby Prison is open day and evening. The 
admission fee is fifty cents, children half-price. 
Not far from Libby Prison, on Wabash ave- 
nue, is another structure that possesses a strong 
historical interest. This is the fort of John 
Brown, transported entire to this city and en- 
closed in a neat iron building. Enterprise has 
no compunction in these days, and it is hard to 
tell what the visitor to Chicago will not see if 
he waits long enough. 




PANORAMAS, CASINOJAND LIBBY PRISON. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



PERILS AND PITFALLS. 




IT is not insulting the intel- 
ligence of the stranger to warn 
him against the unscrupulous 
persons who will beset his path, 
for they are so numerous 
and make their appearance 
at such unexpected 
times and places that 
the very smartest of us 
,all are occasionally in 
danger of being victim- 
ized. There are probably more 
"crooked" people in Chicago at 
the present writing than any 
other city in the Union, and it is 
altogether probable that this 
number will be largely increased 
during the progress of the Fair. 

The criminal classes who infest Chicago at 
all times are extremely varied. The common 
tough, whose exterior and manner of com- 
porting himself proclaim his worthlessness, is 
not very much to be feared. Such gentry will 
be well cared for by the police during the great 



g2 . 

rush to the Fair. Indeed, it is quite probable 
that all suspicious or known disreputable char- 
acters will be spotted at once and given a 
chance to leave the city, a failure to avail them- 
selves of which, will result in their imprison- 
ment until the Fair is over. But there are other 
gentry who are infinitely more dangerous. The 
term ''bunco-steerer" perhaps best signifies their 
calling. The term bunco-steerer originally 
meant a decoy, or *'capper," who led or 
"steered" the confiding stranger against a bunco 
"lay-out." Lately, however, its meaning has 
broadened. By "bunco-steerer" is now meant 
the oily, genial gentleman who approaches you 
on the street corners and politely inquires 
after your health, supplementing this query 
with another as to whether you would not like a 
chance to get into any sort of game whatso- 
ever. The bunco-steerer will turn his wits to 
almost any scheme to make money at the ex- 
pense of his more honest fellow-creatures. He 
belongs to the great army of confidence men 
who prey upon mankind in general and upon 
gullible strangers in large cities in particular. 

The confidence man! Ah, beware of him if 
you value your peace. He may make his ap- 
pearance at any moment and in any guise. 
The very suave and polished gentleman who 
sits opposite to you at the table in the dining- 



83 



car and chats so delightfully with you as you 
ride into the city together may be a wolf in 




sheep's clothing, with de- 
signs on your purse. The 
very clumsy confidence 
man who walks up and 
slaps you on the back with a cordial *'How de 
do, Jones, how are all the folks?" and imme- 
diately tries to scrape up an acquaintance, is not 
to be dreaded except by very green people who 
have never been in a big city before. It is the 
polished villain, the polite, well-dressed person 
who, while preserving a dignified demeanor, 
nevertheless tries to scrape up an acquaintance 
and then proceeds to divulge — as he will sooner 
or later — a chance by which a little easy money 



84 

can be made, who is to be feared. A very good 
rule to go by is to preserve a polite manner to 
all strangers, but not to enter into confidential 
relations with any man who hasn't been intro- 
duced to you by some one whom you thor- 
oughly know. The pleasures of a chance ac- 
quaintance may be great but they are accom- 
panied by dangers to your purse. If you go 
into a quiet little game of cards at a hotel it is 
a ''cinch" that you will lose your money, be- 
cause the men who invite you into it are cheats 
and will not give you a fair show. They are 
confederates and the money they show cuts no 
figure, because they have entered into a com- 
bination to fleece the stranger. 

The rhapsodical gentleman who rushes up to 
you and proceeds to tell you glibly of all the 
people who live in your town has spotted you 
for a victim. Look out for him. It is easy to 
account for the knowledge he displays. Such 
people make a habit of hanging about the hotel 
and studying the history of every guest. That 
is how this sleek gentleman succeeded in ascer- 
taining so much about you, my friend. The 
hotel people watch very closely for such gentry 
and when one of them is caught he is never 
given an opportunity to repeat his offense. 

There are two bits of advice which if fol- 
lowed closely will probably save the unwary 



85 

stranger from all harm. In the first place never 
enter a place you would be ashamed to have 
your family at home know you entered; and in 
the second place never sign any papers or lend 
any money or valuables at the request of stran- 
gers. 

Among the devices for snaring the wayfarer's 
honest dollar is the ''snap" auction sale. Passing 
along a leading thoroughfare one encounters a, 
big shop flanked on the outside by two well 
dressed young men who are doing all they can 
to attract custom. Inside, a red-faced auction- 
eer is expatiating on the magnificence of the 
plate and jewelry he is offering for sale. Don't 
be deceived by the plate and jewelry. It would 
probably be expensive at I5 a ton. Neverthe- 
less, the auctioneer is eloquent. It is possible, 
too, that he may exhibit for a moment a really 
valuable watch or ring, only to deftly conceal it 
and substitute a worthless one for it as soon as 
somebody shall have made a bid. Scattered 
about among the spectators are numerous ''cap- 
pers" who, whenever an article is put up, bid a 
few dollars against each other. As soon as a 
stranger makes a bid of any sort the article is 
promptly knocked down to him and handed 
over. When he gets away he discovers too late 
that he has been duped. 

One has not space at command to cite all the 



86 

methods by which the unwary are fleeced out of 
their wealth. Besides^ new and treacherous 
schemes are constantly being • invented. It is 
impossible to tell what plot the genius of the 
confidence man will strike next. These shrewd 
geniuses have even gone so far as the selling of 
banana stalks to farmers for seed. It must 
not be supposed by this that all Chicagoans are 
dishonest, although many foolish people who 
contrive to get fleeced generally go home utter- 
ing loud cries at the greed and dishonesty of the 
big city by the lake. But as long as there are 
geese to be plucked there will be rascals looking 
out for the chance to do the plucking. Take 
reasonable precautions and you stand in no 
danger. But make merry with chance compan- 
ions in questionable resorts, and, unless Provi- 
dence has taken you under its especial charge, 
you will go home a sadder, wiser and poorer 
man. 



CHAPTER IX. 



AS TO ADVENTURESSES. 



THIS should perhaps have been in- 
^cluded under the head of the pre- 
ceding chapter, for if there are 
any pitfalls and perils more 
dangerous than those laid by 
so rupu 1 ou s 
the fairer sex 
yet to be 
aware o f 
esses of 




fair and un- 

membersof 

we have 

made 
them. The adventur- 
Chicago, however, de- 
brief and exclusive 
inasmuch as they con- 
separate class which 
with very great pro- 
asked to go' about label- 
the initials D. F. (signifying ''Dangerous Fe- 
males"). Even then, however, it is safe to say, 
they would not want for victims, for there are 
some men who would run after a pretty woman 
if they were morally certain that the pastime 
would lead to their everlasting damnation. 

The term adventuress is applied to women 
of careless reputation who, being much too 




serve a 
chapter, 
stitute a 
m i g h t, 
priety, be 
ed with 



88 

smart to endure the ignominious career of pro- 
fessional demi-mondaines, resort to various 
shrewd schemes to fleece the unwary. Some 
of their class work in concert with male part- 
ners and in such cases the selected victim gen- 
erally becomes an easy prey. The confidence 
man may be dangerous; the confidence woman, 
if she be well educated and bright, as well as 
pretty, is irresistible except with the most hard- 
ened and unsusceptible customers. The shrewd- 
est old granger of them all, who steers safely 
through the shoals and traps set for him by 
male sharpers, will go down like the clover 
before the scythe under a roguish glance, 
as it were, from a ''white wench's black eye," 
as Mercutio said. 

There is no mortal man in this universe of 
ours, be he never so homely or ill-favored, who 
does not cherish in his heart of hearts the im- 
pression that there is a woman or two some- 
where whom he could charm if he wished to. 
It is the spirit of masculine vanity that forms 
the material upon which the adventuress may 
work. With the art of an expert she sizes up 
the dimensions of her victim's vanity the instant 
she has made his acquaintance, and plays upon 
it to just the extent she deems expedient and 
profitable. If it were not for masculine vanity 
the American adventuress could not exist. 



89 

Suppose, for instance, that Mr. John Smith, 
who is a merchant in comfortable circumstances 
at home and quite a great man in his town, is 
taking a stroll down State street in the bright 
afternoon sunshine. He has just gotten outside 
of a good dinner at his hotel, prior to which he 
had a good shave and a cocktail — just the com- 
bination to make a well-to-do traveler with a 
little time on his hands feel literally ''out of 
sight," as the slang phrase goes. Suppose 
then, as John passes Marshall Field's, he ob- 
serves a magnificent creature, a royal blonde, 
mayhap, or a plump brunette (either will do for 
the sake of illustration) peeping shyly at him 
from beneath long silken lashes and smiling 
ever so slightly. Now John may be a deacon 
in the church at home; he may even be the 
father of a large family, but if he is human, 
and animated by the latent vanity that is the 
paramount trait of his sex, he will instantly ex- 
perience a sensation of pleasure and attribute 
the strange beauty's attention to his own long- 
dormant power to fascinate. 

That splendid creature with her fine clothes, 
her exquisite complexion and her graceful bear- 
ing, an adventuress? Impossible! At least so 
John Smith thinks. She may even have a car- 
riage at the curbstone into which she steps 
daintily, with her eyes still slyly following the 



go 

amorous John. There is a delicate invitation 
in the glance, and if John is courageous he will 
— pshaw! Let us hope he wont, for it is a dead 
certainty that the coy beauty is an adventuress 
of the deadliest and most conscienceless sort. 
John, who in his confiding soul has set her 
down as a duchess or a society queen at least, 
fondly imagines that it is his person of which 
she is enamored. We, who are better posted, 
know that it is his worldly wealth that she is 
after and that even as she gives him an attack 
of palpitation of the heart by her warm glance 
she is figuring on how she may most easily pos- 
sess herself of that wealth. 

The schemes of the city's adventuresses are 
quite as numerous as those of the confidence 
man, but blackmail is their great card and the 
one that they play most successfully. As a 
rule a prosperous citizen of good reputation and 
standing in his own town, who misconducts him- 
self when away from home, would rather pay 
any sum in reason than have his friends at 
home know of that dereliction. That is where 
the skilled adventuress makes her strong play. 
If she has the power to lure her victim into a 
liaison she has surely had the tact to draw 
from him in the two or three days they have 
spent together all the particulars she needs as 
to his relations in his own town. What a dis- 



91 

heartening shock it must be, must it not, to 
have this splendid creature, who has vowed a 
thousand times to the doting John Smith that 
she loves him for himself alone, strike him on 
the morning of his projected departure for home 
for a cool thousand dollars in cash? Of course 
he demurs, but when she pleasantly hints at 
the trip she intends to make to his town and 
the exposure that must necessarily follow what 
is to be done? Poor John Smith! He is not 
such a gay dog now. It gradually ends in a 
compromise of some sort, for the lady is sel- 
dom too exacting, and if John is inclined to be 
docile — to the extent of four or five hundred, 
maybe — she will probably be very good-natured 
and let it go at that. 

This is the highest type of adventuress — the 
aristocrat of her profession. From her the types 
descend in grades, down to the very lowest of 
all, the birds of the night who prowl the streets 
in search of victims whom they may lure to the 
dens of their male accomplices, there to be vul- 
garly drugged or "slugged" and robbed of their 
portable valuables. 

The ''indignant husband" game is a favorite 
one with adventuresses of the second class, by 
which term is signified such fair and frail crea- 
tures as occupy a somewhat lower place in the 
plane of rascaldom than the fairy who relies 



92 

solely upon discreet blackmail without publicity 
for her means of support. This game is usually 
played upon very green persons for the reason 
that very few others would fall victims to it. 
The fair decoy makes the acquaintance of her 




quarry on the street, at a matinee or elsewhere. 
For the first interview she is on her good be- 
havior, and by her repression of any approach 
to familiarity that her newly acquired friend 
may make she creates the impression that she 



93 

is a very nice and decorous person indeed — a 
little disposed to flirt, that is all. She does, 
however, write him to call upon her and of 
course he does so — perhaps to-day, perhaps to- 
morrow, but he calls, anyway. By letting fall 
certain artful hints she contrives to let her 
victim know that she is a married woman. This 
of course lends an added spice of interest to the 
adventure. The idea of poaching on forbidden 
ground is attractive to the dupe. So an hour 
passes in pleasant converse, and in the natural 
course of events the caller becomes sentimental. 
This much accomplished, he is hers, so to speak. 
At the very moment that the poor victim is 
congratulating himself upon his conquest there 
is a thundering knock at the door. 

''My God!" screams the lady, with the dra- 
matic intensity of a Bernhardt, "My husband!" 

The startled fly in her net squirms in his seat. 
Who would not, situated as he is? ''What is to 
be done?" he asks weakly. 

"Hide! hide!" says the poor "wife" frenziedly 
and straightway rushes him into a convenient 
closet. The "husband" enters and, singularly 
enough, finds no difficulty in discovering the 
interloper's hiding-place. He is gruffly ordered 
to come out and as like as not finds himself 
looking down the barrel of a big revolver. 

Of course he is willing to make any sort of 



94 

settlement in order to escape with a whole skin. 
If he has no currency the ''husband's" wounded 
"honor" will be healed with a check, although 
he would rather have his watch, seeing that the 
payment of checks can be easily stopped at the 
bank. 

It must not be inferred from the foregoing 
that any peaceable gentleman who walks the 
streets is liable to be dragged by the nape of 
his neck into a compromising situation and 
compelled to disgorge all of his portable wealth 
at the point of a pistol. Far from it. He who 
walks the straight path of virtue is in no danger 
whatsoever. It is your frisky gentleman, who 
is out for a little lark and is reckless in his 
manner of carrying out the enterprise, who is 
likely to find himself in a snare. *'Be good and 
you will be happy" is a maxim (modernized) 
that applies very handsomely to this sort of 
thing. ''But you will miss lots of fun!" the 
frisky man may respond. Well, well, even so, 
but be very careful, for you know not how soon 
or how abruptly the languishing angel at your 
side may change into a fiery harridan, deter- 
termined to have your money, your reputation 
or your life — whichever may suit her best. 

Only a shade removed from the ''indignant 
husband" game is the old "panel" enterprise, 
which is so very vulgar and simple in the man- 



95 

ner of its operation that it would not be worthy 
of mention were it not for the author's desire to 
warn strangers of every grade of intelligence 
against every possible danger that may lie in 
wait for him. Beware! O sportive young gen- 
tleman in search of a little diversion, of the 
young woman who on the shortest term of ac- 
quaintance invites you to accompany her to her 
flat or her boudoir, as the case may be. It may 
be that she has a pair of sharp scissors in her 
pocket with which she deftly snips off your 
money pocket; but tailing this device, the 
'.'panel" is brought into play. While the inter- 
view between the more or less affectionate lovers 
is in progress a panel in the wall slides back, 
pushed by invisible hands, and a third person, 
the male confederate of the damsel, slinks 
through it into the apartment. The amount of 
plunder he secures depends entirely upon the 
degfee of absorption with which the quarry is 
wooing his charmer and the progress that he 
has made in her affections, but however that 
may be he is tolerably certain to emerge a 
heavy loser. If the presence of the third party 
is discovered (and it is surprising how seldom 
this is the case) a fight is in order and the victim 
is fortunate if he escapes with only the loss of 
his valuables to mourn and no physical injury 
to lament. 



96 

It is a sorry subject and one is glad to leave 
it. Before doing so, however, remember one 
thing, and remember it very distinctly: No 
young lady, however irreproachable her appear- 
ance, who enters into a street flirtation, can 
safely be regarded as other than dangerous. 
Act on this suggestion and you will run no 
risks. In other words, **Be good and you will 
be happy." A repetition of the maxim will do 
no harm. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE TIGER AND HIS HAUNTS. 




which 



WHILE gambhng 
of all sorts and con- 
ditio n s is to be 
strongly deprecated 
it is nevertheless a 
fact that a large per- 
centage of the stran- 
gers who flock to this 
great city of the 
West find them- 
selves possessed at 
times with a desire 
to view the feverish 
they have heard so 



scenes 



much. Gambling as a confirmed vice is a ter- 
rible affliction. It frequently happens, how- 
ever, that men who never dream of gambling 
at home, finding themselves with a little 
superfluous time on their hands in a strange 
city, actually yearn for a little of the excite- 
ment that is to be obtained by staking a 
small sum at a game of chance or skill. It's 
not the amount of money invested or the hope 
of gain that animates them; it is the pleasant 



98 

excitement that the game affords. Such men 
usually regard the small sum so risked as so much 
money thrown away; and as a matter of fact 
that is the right way to regard it, for those who 
pit their money and skill against gamblers suf- 
ciently educated to make a living in Chicago 
possess more nerve than discretion. The com- 
piler of this little work advises everybody to 
forego all games of chance while resident in 
this city. Confident, however, that with many 
people old enough and wise enough to know 
better this advice will utterly be disregarded, 
a few remarks upon the present status of the 
gambling fraternity in Chicago may not be 
thrown away. 

In the old days, during the administration of 
both parties, so far as one can remember, the 
gambling industry flourished like the proverbial 
green bay tree. The South side, in the business 
districtjfairly swarmed with ''hells" of all descrip- 
tions, while the lesidence portions of the city 
were scarcely less favored. Passing along Clark 
street on sultry summer evenings, when the 
heat of the atmosphere necessitated the open- 
ing of doors and windows, the rattle of the 
chips and the monotonous voices of the crou- 
piers could be distinctly heard by the wayfarer. 
All that, however, is now changed. Mr. Wash- 
burne's administration, when it came into power, 



.99 



set its face sternly upon "wide-open " gambling; 
from the very outset the well-known places 
were compelled to close their doors on pain of 
a raid and the destruction of their contents. It 

is, neverthe- 
less, a fact 
that there are 
still a large 
number of 
professio n a 1 
gamblers in 
C h icag o — 
presu m a b 1 y 
there always 
will be — and 
while there 
are no notorious houses 
open the stranger who is 
yearning for a little action 
for his spare cash can be 
readily accommodated. The 
notorious Hankins castle on Clark street is 
tightly closed, but every night there may be 
found in that vicinity any number of ''sporty- 
looking " gentry who will be only too glad to 
guide the inquirer to a secluded spot where he 
can be accommodated with as large or as small 
a game as his inclination may dictate or his 
means allow. 




100 



That the sporting fraternity Hve in hopes of 
the advent of happier times is very evident. 
Costly gambhng furniture in large quantities is 
stored away in anticipation of the coming into 
power of a mayor who will look less rigorously 
on the '' profession." Mr. Hankins himself is 
credited with having paid the rent of |8,ooo per 
year for two years in advance for his 
place, which shows his faith in his ultimate 
ability to re-open. In the old days Hankins' 
place was known as the "dinner-pail" home, 
presumably by reason of the large clientele of 
workingmen, clerks and* other people of small 
means who deposited their slender earnings 
with great regularity in his coffers every Satur- 
day night. To this day they tell how a wagon 
used to drive up to the door a few minutes 
before ten o'clock every Monday morning and 
carry away to the bank the load of silver dol- 
lars, halves, quarters and dimes left there by 
the patrons of the establishment within the 
preceding twenty-four hours. The place in 
those times was a sight for gods and men. On 
three floors games were in progress and the 
rooms thronged to the suffocating point with a 
variegated assortment of humanity, all bent on 
the one project — namely, the acquisition of 
riches on the hazard of the cards or dice. 
Should the place ever be re-opened the sight 



lOI 



will well repay a visit, even though it be merely 
one of curiosity. Nobody who enters is asked 
to play, though those who do not are regarded 
with suspicion. A few minutes, however, is all 
that is necessary in which to see 
/^^^BU. all that is to be seen. 

This description of Hankins" 




will serve for any large gambling 
house. At the present time, 
however, the industry is carried 
on sub rosa. There are two or 
three places which can be read- 
ily discovered by the curious, 
where the "boss" gamblers are in the habit of 
meeting, and, failing the presence of the common 
prey, proceed to cheerfully ''wolf" each other. 
The game chosen is the great American game of 
poker and a nervous man is liable to suffer from 



102 



shortness of breath at the sight of the bets that 
are made. There are other places where other 
games are carried on, but the visitor, if he is sen- 
sible, will steer clear of any or all of them. The 
facilities for running such money traps are so 
limited and the risk of arrest and punishment so 
great that the chances of encountering against a 
''brace" game are about loo to i against the 
patron; the only consideration with the ''slick" 
gentry who manipulate the games being how 
to most expeditiously relieve the wayfarer of 
his wealth at the least possible risk to them- 
selves. Take the advice of an old hand and 
give the polished and gentlemanly professional 
gambler of Chicago a very wide berth. 

For people of wealth who, afflicted with the 
speculative mania, desire a larger field of opera- 
tions than mere roulette, faro or other trifling 
games, such a field is not difficult to find. On 
the Board of Trade, where colossal fortunes 
are sometimes lost and won in an hour, every 
facility is offered the stranger who desires to 
take a " flyer." Stop in any commission house 
and signify your desire to " play " the market. 
No introduction is necessary — only sufficient 
money to " margin " your deal. For the bene- 
fit of the uninitiated the system of speculation 
in grain and provisions may be briefly ex- 
plained. 



103 

If you are possessed of a notion that the mar- 
ket price of wheat or oats is too low to be justi- 
fied by circumstances and wish to back your ex- 
pectation of a rise with money, nothing is more 
simple of accomplishment. In that case order 
your commission man to buy you 5,000 or 10,- 
000 bushels of the commodity you desire to 
trade in and deposit whatever sum he demands 
for margin. Some houses will make trades on 
a basis of one cent per bushel margin; but 
that sort of trading is not very satisfactory [in- 
asmuch as he will sell you out at the first point 
or two the market goes against you. The pro- 
fits or losses on such a deal are easily figured. 
An advance of one cent a bushel, over and 
above the agent's commission of ^ of a cent for 
buying and selling, means a profit of I50.00 
from the transaction. A corresponding decline 
means a loss of the same amount. But if the 
speculator thinks that the article in which he is 
dealing is too high in price he puts up his mar- 
gin and " goes short; " that is to say, he instructs 
his broker to se//, instead of buying the amount. 
Sell what one hasn't got? Well, that would 
ordinarily be difficult, but the system of mar- 
gins enables you to do it on the Board of Trade. 
If the price advances after you have sold ''short" 
you are so much out of pocket; if it goes down 



104 




you are so much ahead, less always the commis- 
sion. 

This is the principle on 
which a * 'flyer" may be taken 
on the Board. This 
outside speculation 
is of course only a 
feature of the vast 
legitimate buying 
and selling that is 
daily tran- >R^^ sacted on the Board; 

but it is^^^^j^^Ws th^^^' i^st the 

same, and it '^^^^^^^i will remain just 

so long as it ^ '^^^^y^Wv^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ 
''futures." There is W ' n. a bill now before 

Congress making it 
unlawful to deal in 
"futures" when 
those futures affect 
the market price of 
the necessaries of life. 
If the bill should become 
a law it would put a sudden 
stop to outside speculation 
on the Chicago Board of 
Trade. The proposed measure 
has awakened such a storm of op- 
position, however, that it is hardly 
likely to go through. Many people claim that 




105 

such a law would virtually kill business on the 
Board and that it would result in direct disad- 
vantage to the farmer, for whose benefit it was 
framed. 

Quite aside from the facilities that it presents 
for a bit of high speculation the Board of Trade 
is in itself an interesting place to visit. The 
great stone building at the head of La Salle 
street, where so many colossal fortunes have 
been lost and won, is invariably one of the first 
places that strangers seek. It is the largest 
institution of its kind in the world, being con- 
structed mainly of gray granite. The height 
of the tower is 322 feet above the street. Around 
the great hall where the daily sessions of the 
mammoth exchange are held are galleries to 
which visitors are admitted free. During per- 
iods of great excitement, caused by a rapid ad- 
vance or decline in prices, these galleries are 
thronged with people who watch with thrilling 
interest the half-wild human panorama below. 
At such times the stranger may be excused for 
imagining that Bedlam had broken loose. 
Groups of brokers stand about shouting at each 
other like so many madmen. Messengers are 
scurrying hither and thither, and at times the 
scattering yells break into a chorused roar be- 
side which the screeching of a dozen locomo- 
tives in unison would seem tame in comparison. 



io6 

The Board of Trade has 2,000 members. The 
membership fee is |i 0,000, but the places of 
members who die or resign may occasionally be 
purchased for about half that amount. While 
the claim is always made that only legitimate 
business is transacted on the Board of Trade 
the statement cannot be disputed that it pre- 
sents the greatest opportunity for high gam- 
bling in the whole world. Perhaps it is not alto- 
gether gambling, either, inasmuch as it is not so 
much a game of chance as a game of judgment 
and skill, in which the cleverest and not the 
luckiest players come out on top. 

However that may be there have been some 
mighty fortunes won and lost on the Chicago 
Board of Trade. There was one memorable 
Saturday morning, nearly ten years ago, before 
the Board moved into its present qarters, when 
a dozen houses that had hitherto been regarded 
as the most substantial among the substantial 
went down with a crash. It was the year of the 
famous lard corner. Peter McGeoch, the great 
speculator and capitalist, tried to buy all the 
lard in sight. He succeeded in advancing the 
price considerably, but the inevitable break 
came and lard suddenly declined I3 a tierce. 
All the other products declined in sympathy. 
McGeoch, in the parlance of the day, went 
broke, and he dragged a lot of other men with 



107 

him. Old operators say they never saw such 
scenes on the Board as were witnessed that day. 
Strong men stood about crying like babies at 
the sight of their vanishing fortunes, and 
even those who were earning thousands of dol- 
lars with the flight of every five minutes stood 
transfixed with terror lest prices should sudden- 
ly bulge the other way and land them in ruin 
before they had time to realize their profits. 
There was another very similar scene in the 
year 1887, when E. L. Harper, President of the 
Fidelity Bank, of Cincinnati, tried to ''corner" 
wheat in Chicago. He and the syndicate he 
represented came within an ace of success. 
They ran the price up nearly 15 cents a bushel 
and had an enormous profit on paper. But 
there came a call for more *' margins." Hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars in greenbacks were 
shipped to Chicago from Cincinnati, but the 
sum sent was not big enough, and before the 
required amount could be raised the reaction 
came. There were rumors one bright mori- 
ing that a crash was pending. The crash came 
and wheat dropped 20 cents a bushel in one 
hour. The syndicate was ruined and the very 
men who had sold '' short " and had risen that 
morning in the expectation of meeting ruin 
themselves found by the same freak of fortune 
which had overwhelmed their adversaries that 



io8 

they were enriched by hundreds of thousands of 
dollars. The aftermath of that famous corner 
is history. It was found that Harper had used 
the Fidelity Bank's money as well as his own 
and the United States authorities took charge 
of the institution. Harper was tried and sent 
to the penitentiary for ten years. 

In order to realize the splendor of such a 
game one must ponder on the actual facts. 
If Harper had been able to raise about 150,000 
more (he had already put up ^500,000 in mar- 
gins) he and his friends would have cleared mil- 
lions. As it was they just fell short of the 
mark and were irretrievably ruined. But would 
not any confirmed gamester claim that such a 
royal game was worth the risk? 

The attempts to run a corner on the Chicago 
Board of Trade have not always been unsuc- 
cessful. B. P. Hutchinson, an old gentleman 
who afterward went to New York as offering a 
more profitable field for his operations, was one 
of the few men who have had money enough 
to engineer a "corner," run it to its end and 
pocket the enormous profits. " Old Hutch," as 
he was then familiarly named, was credited with 
losing a half a million cold dollars in the Har- 
per deal. The gentlemen who got this money 
were of course those who sold ''short," and they 
were said to be a group of millionaires who 



109 

"had it in" for "Old Hutch," and had laid 
a trap to catch him. Whether these ru- 
mors had any substantiation in fact the writer 
knows not. If so, however, it may go on record 
as a fact the " Old Hutch" got right royally 
even with the gentle-men who " did him up " on 
this occasion. For a year or so after this Harper 
deal he ran a corner in wheat entirely on his own 
account. It was the option for the month o 
November to which he turned his attention. 
Be that as it may, he bought all the wheat that 
was offered him and paid for it at prices rang- 
ing from 90 cents to |i.io. The month drew 
to a close. The " bears " had one day in which 
to fill their contracts to "Old Hutch" at ruinous 
prices. They held off and on the last day of 
the month, at the expiration of which the men 
who had sold ' ' short " to Hutch were compelled 
to either pay their difference or default (that is 
fail), the old gentleman stepped up and bought 
a single car-load of wheat at $2.00 per bushel, 
in order to establish a price, and in, slang par- 
lance, " that was where he had 'em." He not 
only recovered his losses but milked the alleged 
clique of millionaires for at least a million dol- 
lars besides. They were able to pay the loss, 
and " Old Hutch '^ went on his way rejoicing. It 
was whispered about that time that "Old Hutch's'' 
intellect went a little awry after this terrible 



no 



strain. He disappeared, and the newspapers 
were full of dire hints as to the probability of 
his having wandered off and drowned himself, 
or else blown out his brains. He turned up all 
right in New York, however, carrying on his 
operations with the old-time skill and nerve, 
and is, presumably, still making more money to 
leave his sons. A very fat and interesting vol- 
ume might be written about Mr. B. P. Hutchin- 
son and his operations in the Chicago grain 
market. 

The very magnitude of deals like those 
above described is calculated to appall the av- 
erage mind. Let not the reader suppose, 
however, that the same opportunities of which 
the millionaire capitalist avails himself lie open 
to every one. Far from it. Unlimited resources 
and a life-long familiarity with the intricacies 
of the market are necessary adjuncts to the 
manipulation of a corner. If the wayfarer de- 
sires to try his luck to the extent of a I50 bill, 
or a 1 1 00 bill, or a 1 1,000 bill — -all well and good. 
But he is not advised to do so. He would bet- 
ter let it alone. Only on the supposition that 
there are some men who cannot keep out of a 
glorious game like this are the foregoing hints 
given. 

On the Board of Trade proper nothing small- 
er than a 5000-bushel lot of grain or a 2 50- pack- 



Ill 



age lot of provisions can be dealt in. On the 
other side of the street, however, is the Open 
Board of Trade, to the floor of which strangers 
are admitted free, and where one may deal in 
looo-bushel or even 500-bushel lots. Here is a 
place where quick action may be had for one's 
money. The intending speculator may make 
his deal, watch the blackboard, close out and 
walk away $50 richer or I50 poorer, as the case 
may be, inside of ten minutes. The specula- 
tor takes big chances — he must never forget 
that he is playing against a certainty of a loss 
of ^ of a cent a bushel (the commission), but 
the profits, if there are any, are handsome. So 
are the losses. That, however, is merely infor- 
mation. If you are wise stay away from it, 
but if you must go in take an old-timer's advice 
and go slow. 

In addition to the two Boards of Trade there 
are numerous ''bucket-shops' all over town 
where the stranger can, if he chooses, relieve 
himself of his wealth without the trouble of a 
visit to either Boards. A bucket-shop is a snap 
commission house which claims to operate on 
the Board of Trade quotations. Their existence 
is forbidden by law, but plenty are to be found; 
nevertheless. The quotations come over a 
"ticker." The customer buys or sells grain or 
stocks at a certain price, reports his ''margins'' 



112 



and awaits events. In an hour at the out- 
side he will get "action" for his money. 
There are some bucket-shops that ignore the 
Board of Trade and carry on their operations 
by telegraphic quotations from the New York 
Stock Exchange. If the customer, therefore, 
would rather operate in Wall street than on the 
Chicago Board he can readily be accommo- 
dated. 

The Chicago Stock Exchange, located at the 
corner of Dearborn and Monroe, is a compara- 
tively new institution but one that flourishes 
exceedingly. It is devoted to the purchase and 
sale of Chicago securities of all sorts, such as 
bank and street railway shares, stocks, bonds, 
etc. Several of the banking and commission 
houses connected therewith have private wires to 
the New York Stock Exchange and if their cus- 
tomers grow weary of "playing" Chicago se- 
curities, which do not often fluctuate largely or 
rapidly, they can be transported to Wall street 
as quickly as the telegram can transmit the deal 
they wish to make. 

And here the chapter on gambling may be 
brought to a close. It is only presented as 
showing the opportunities that the city affords 
for those of speculative tendencies, and once 
again the author, conscious of having performed 
his task with all the conscientiousness at his 



113 

command, gratuitously advises the reader to let 
gambling of all sorts and conditions severely 
alone during such time as he may remain in 
Chicago. For, while a few may win, the vast 
majority lose. Always remember that. 

As the bully of the school said when the new 
boy licked him within an inch of his life, " 'Nuff 
said." 



CHAPTER XL 



MASQUERADES AND SIMILAR ENTERTAINMENTS. 



THE more or less 
stereotyped forms of 
entertainment to be 
found in the various 
theaters do not always 
cater fully to the va- 
rying tastes of the 
transient crowds that 
throng the streets of 
Chicago at all times. 
' That ''variety is the 
spice of life" is en- 
dorsed by the popular- 
ity of the different 
festivities that are being constantly arranged 
and that invariably secure profitable patronage. 
Dancing, as a pursuit for pleasure-seekers, is 
always popular and its votaries are countless. 
There are any number of ordinary dance-halls 
located in every quarter of the city, and the 
particular style of entertainment they offer may 
always be ascertained by consulting the adver- 
tising columns of the evening newspapers. 
There are several high-class dancing academies 




115 

which, however, would hardly be classified as 
public dance-halls, their privileges being really 
confined to the pupils and classes who receive 
regular instructions there. They may, how- 
ever, be particularized as follows: Bournique's 
academy, a handsome brick structure located 
at 51 Twenty-third street, where the youthful 
scions of the "first families," so called, receive 
instructions in terpsichorean art; M. De Long, 
"jZ Monroe street; Horace Beek, 164 Warren 
avenue, and Martine's academy on Ada street, 
between Madison street and Washington 
boulevard. 

Conceding that these places are for ''socie- 
ty" — for the aristocrat, so to speak — one comes 
to consider those that are dedicated to the 
people — ^places where a small sum of money is 
the passport for admission and circumspect 
conduct the condition of remaining. If an 
ordinary dance or ball is enjoyable how much 
more so is a masquerade — that merry carnival 
in which identities are mysteriously hidden and 
all manner of pleasant pranks indulged in by the 
maskers, whose brilliant and variegated cos- 
tumes transform the aspect of the thronging floor 
into a kaleidoscopic expanse of ever-changing 
beauty. The accompanying illustration de- 
picts the sort of jolly scene to be encountered 
at a typical Chicago masquerade — a scene which, 



Ii6 



witnessed for the fi,rst time, is rarely forgotten 
until it is eclipsed perhaps, by another later and 
even more novel. 

Some prodigious masquerades have been 
witnessed in Chicago, and, though the fall and 
winter months constitute the regular masquer- 
ade season, the mercurial spirit by which 
the population is animated occasionally mani- 
fests itself in a masquerade of large or 
small dimensions at almost any period of 
the year. The most extensive masquerades 
of all have been held in Battery D, the roomy 
building on the Lake Front, in which has been 
held every style of entertainment, from floral 
displays and dances to prize-fights and dog 
shows. While these masquerades may be 
attended in safety by anyone who goes in the 
capacity of spectator and is animated by a 
determination to keep quiet whatever happens, 
some quite stirring scenes are occasionally 
witnessed there. Like a disordered but by no 
means wholly unpleasant dream comes over the 
writer the memory of a certain masquerade at 
Battery D, which was a gigantic affair, given 
under the auspices of the Board of Trade 
Clerks' Association, a coterie of youthful and 
devil-may-care spirits whose only object out- 
side of business hours is to discover agreeable 
methods by which to slay time. The admis- 



117 

sion fee was fifty cents per head, ladies free. 
A commodious bar contained unlimited re- 
freshment for the revelers, who were of all 
classes, from the young "chippie" of the cheap 
dry goods shops and her red-necktied escort to 
the opulent banker and his friends who viewed 
the fun from the galleries. The variety of cos- 
tumes was simply infinite. There were clowns, 
knights, devils, harlequins, kings, princes, 
queens, shepherdesses, queens of hearts, fairy- 
maids, witches; in fact, every sort of character it 
is possible to imagine. The fun commenced at 
eight o'clock and continued until — well they say 
it was about noon the next day when the music 
finally stopped and the last of the revelers dis- 
appeared. Some of the scenes that were wit- 
nessed were simply too wonderful for descrip- 
tion. After midnight, when the musicians as 
well as the maskers found themselves vinously 
fortified to sufficient extent, all formality was 
dispensed with and care thrown to the winds. 
Frolicsome gentlemen turned somersaults and 
handsprings, landing not infrequently with 
their feet in the stomachs of their friends, and 
equally frolicsome ladies indulged in high-kick- 
ing contests and other acrobatic feats that 
materially added to the spirit of the occasion. 
And fights? Well, fights were quite numerous 
JDut not very deadly. A soft blow or two ex- 



Ii8 . 

changed, maybe, and then the combatants, ani- 
mated by the general hilarity, kissed and 
made up with charming good-nature and aban- 
don. Nobody bore any malice. A gentleman 
who punched another gentleman was promptly 
forgiven and the reconciliation sealed with a 
drink. The gentleman who got punched as a 
rule got even by punching somebody else. 
People who were knocked down and walked 
upon got up with a lenient smile on their 
faces and at the earliest opportunity walked on 
other people. Once only was there cause to 
fear a serious affray. A young man of very 
good family and great wealth succeeded in 
incurring the displeasure of a band of very 
tough citizens from some region near Canal 
street district. His offense consisted solely in 
his wearing a swallow-tail coat. Be that as 
it may, he was backed into a corner and gruffly 
ordered to apologize. 

'^Apologize for what?" he asked. The leader 
of the tough gang, who was manifestly drunk, 
peremptorily ordered the victim to cease 
''monkeying" and apologize; if he did not know 
what to apologize for he could apologize on 
general principles. The situation was desperate. 
The young man knew it was time to think and 
think quickly. It was a case of apologizing for 
the mere fact of his existence or suffering facial 




THE MASQUERADER'S DREAM. 



119 

disfigurement for three months. He desired to 
call next day on the charming young lady to 
whom he was engaged and so he wisely apolo- 
gized, and the menacing horde of roughs, 
who were preparing to tear him limb from 
limb, at once retired, in the best of humor, and 
let him escape. 

This, of course, was a masquerade of the low- 
er order. It is only described to acquaint the 
reader with the style of entertainment in which 
he may readily mingle if he cares to look for 
it. There are plenty of other masquerades 
where the company is more select. The halls 
along North Clark street, notably North side Tur- 
ner Hall, advertise masquerades and plain dances 
the year round, some of which are very select. 
The finest masquerades of all, however, are 
given at the Germania Club, on North Clark 
street, near Division. Admission is solely by 
invitation and one must possess an acquaintance 
with some member of the club in order to secure 
entrance, and even then it is very difficult. 
Such entertainments, however, are very popu- 
lar and much sought after. At no time, though, 
is there a scarcity of public dances which will 
afford the visitor all the pleasure of that sort 
he is seeking, at a very trifling admission fee. 



CHAPTER XII. 



ON SHOPPING. 




A PARTY of visitors 

iH in which there are one or 
more ladies will unques- 
tionably go on a shopping 
excursion of greater or 
less extent, according to 
the tastes of the fair ones 
and the length of the pur- 
ses possessed by their es- 
corts. It is not intended 
to give any advice as to 
where to go on such oc- 
casions. To do so would be to "get oneself 
disliked," as the saying goes. It is not possible 
to mention all the great shops or stores in de- 
tail ; it would be manifestly unfair to praise a 
few to the exclusion of the many. There are a 
few great houses, however, the names of which 
are in a sense landmarks, and have nothing to 
lose or gain by being either spoken of or 
omitted. 

It has been said that one can buy absolutely 
anything on State street, from a stick of candy 
to an elephant. Certain it is that there are 



121 



some stores on that thoroughfare, notably Mar- 
shall Field's, Gossage's, the Boston Store, 
Mandel's, Schlesinger & Mayer's, the Fair, the 
Leader, J. H. Walker & Co.'s, and Siegel & 
Cooper's, that contain almost everything 
obtainable for money. State street is the 
great retail thoroughfare of the city and in 
any of the stores mentioned the customer is 
certain of fair treatment and his money's worth. 
These houses are all extensive advertisers in 
the daily newspapers and if extensive pur- 
chases are contemplated it is just as well to 
scan these advertisements for notices of '' spec- 
ial sales," as they are called. During "special 
sales " of certain articles the reduction in the 
prices of those articles is very low and much is 
to be gained by looking out for announcements 
that may save the purchaser considerable 
money. The first five houses enumerated are 
located between Randolph and Madison streets. 
The Fair, which is a wonder in itself, and very 
popular, owing to the cheapness of its goods, 
stands opposite to the Leader, at State and 
Adams streets. James H. Walker & Co. have 
a large building on Wabash avenue, at the cor- 
ner of Adams. Siegel & Cooper's great place, 
occupying nearly a block, from Van Buren to 
Congress streets, is one of the sights of the city, 
being, it is said, without exception the largest 



122 



store in the world which is devoted to the sale 
of general merchandise. 

All the leading stores have high-class restaur- 
ants attached to them, a feature keenly appre- 
ciated by lady shoppers, who find it very con- 
venient to rest from their arduous labors long 
enough to take luncheon and then resume the 
happy pastime of getting rid of the dollarsthat 
their husbands and fathers have bestowed 
upon them for this purpose. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



CARROUSELS. 




THE carrousel is 
a form of entertain- 
ment which has grown 
popular with a certain 
class of people within 
recent years. The 
term may be a little 
obscure to the uninitia- 
ted,but they will readily 
understand its mean- 
ing when it is explained 
that the carrousel is 
nothing more or less than the old-fashioned 
"merry-go-round" which, we all easily remem- 
ber as a feature of fairs, circuses and other 
out-door entertainments. There are at the 
present writing several carrousels in the city, 
but it would be quite useless to specify their 
location, because they change places so fre- 
quently that to do so would only be misleading. 
They are here today, there tomorrow; but 
there never need be any difficulty in finding 
them. An inquiry of the hotel clerks or any 
other well-posted person will secure the desired 



124 

imformation as to where the nearest carrousel 
is to be found. 

Various newspapers have from time to time 
waged war upon the caroussel on the ground 
that it is prejudicial to the morals of young 
people who patronize it. This work does not 
assume to criticize, but to state facts. It is a 
fact that the carrousels are well patronized as 
a rule and that the young people who do the 
patronizing appear to extract no end of fun out 
of the whirligig process. 

The caroussel or "merry-go-round" is gener- 
ally situated in a flimsy building on some con- 
venient vacant lot, rented for the purpose at a 
pinch, so to speak. The fiery wooden steeds 
that go whirling round and round in a circle, to 
the spirited music of a brass band or snorting 
orchestrion, bear on their backs sundry youths 
and maidens, with now and then an old boy or 
girl thrown in as a leaven to offset the general 
juvenility, who indulge in all manner of spor- 
tive remarks and jests as they go on their cir- 
cular journey. It must not be supposed that 
the ride itself forms the chief part of the enter- 
tainment. By no means. A very little of that 
goes a long way. The principle part of the fun 
is derived from standing among the many rows 
of spectators and listening to the witticisms 
that are indulged in at the expense of the riders. 



125 

These are often very pert, not to say cutting, 
and the Hvely repartee (not always very re- 
fined) that is exchanged between equestrians 
and spectators is always productive of infinite 
amusement to the chance visitor. A too point- 
ed remark not infrequently leads to a spirited 
argument, which spirited argument not infre- 
quently results in a row in which the friends ol 
the participants are as likely as not to take part. 
In such an event that is the time when 
courtesy and all semblance of it abruptly ends 
and simple muscle then comes into play. This is 
good time for the outsider to withdraw to a safe 
distance, but though the combat is never very 
deadly — no shooting scrape, according to the 
writer's recollection, ever having taken place in 
a carrousel — it is just as well to avoid the risk 
of a black eye or a bloody nose that may result 
from a chance whack from a too-enthusiatic 
pleasure-seeker who has become embroiled in 
the fray with or without his consent. The bat- 
tle, inconsequential as it always is, invariably 
terminates before it is found necessary to call 
in the police. 

The ground upon which certain of the great 
editors of the city have attacked the carrousel 
is that of the temptation to wrong-doing which 
it presents to the young. Certain it is that 
wherever a carrousel is located a large clientele 



126 

®f girls of tender age seems to follow in its 
wake. These girls are of the sort irreverently 
referred to by the very tough young men of the 
period as ''chippie." They do not seem to be 
burdened with a great supply of innocence, but 
it is beyond question that the surroundings of 
the carrousel lead them to indulge in such 
behavior as they would not be guilty of else- 
where. In this respect the caroussel has in a 
measure taken the place of the skating-rink. 
Roller-skating some years ago was a craze, and 
while the carrousel craze has never assumed 
the dimensions of that popular "fad" its asso- 
ciations are very similar. There is always a lib- 
eral supply of alcoholic beverages to which the 
patrons of the carrousel, male and female, have 
easy access. Indeed, in some cases, there is a 
saloon directly attached. From this fact it may 
be easily imagined that this is not the sort of 
place from which a girl of fifteen or thereabout 
can be expected to derive any lasting benefit — 
and any number of such girls will be found en- 
joying themselves at the various carrousel 
enclosures. 

Whatever be its rnerits or demerits the car- 
rousel constitutes one of the features, good, bad 
or indifferent, of a great city. As such it is men- 
tioned here, and for no other reason whatsoever. 
It may interest you to go and take a look at one. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



TURKISH BATHS MASSAGE MANICURES. 

THE heading of this chapter 
may at the first glance seem pecu- 
liar. If so, you don't have to read 
it, do you? Nevertheless, a little 
space may be devoted, in a hap- 
hazard sort of way, to a feature 
of Chicago life that is not with- 
out its charms for those who 
are initiated. 

Chicago is nothing if not 
metropolitan. The Turkish 
bath is a feature of metro- 
politan life which should not 
be deprived of its proper share of attention. 

Ever taken a Turkish bath? No? Then 
remedy the deficiency in your education at once 
and at the same time taste one of the sublimest 
sensations that falls to the lot of man in this 
prosaic world of ours! 

To particularize all the Turkish baths of the 
city would consume too much space. They 
can be found in connection with most of the 
leading hotels. The Palmer House baths, lo- 
cated beneath the barber shop, the floor of 




128 

which is studded with silver dollars, is perhaps 
the most celebrated. They are open day and 
night — as all Turkish baths naturally are — and 
enjoy a large patronage. There are other 
places, quite independent of the hotels, notably 
Franks', on Wabash avenue. The visitor is well 
cared for and given a taste of Oriental cleanli- 
ness and luxury at any hour of the day or night. 

The Turkish bath owes a good deal of its 
popularity, I fear, to its revivifying effect on 
the toper. A man may enter a Turkish bath 
with the most aggravated case of "jag" on 
record and emerge in a few hours fresh, 
cleansed and glorified — ''clothed and in his 
right mind," as Holy Writ has it. Not to say 
that only tipplers patronize the baths ! Far 
from it. People of unimpeachable sobriety in- 
dulge regularly in them for their health-giving 
qualities alone. In hot weather, when the cloth- 
ing sticks with disagreeable closeness to the 
body, there is no easier method of "cooling off" 
than a passage through this fiery, or rather 
steaming, ordeal. Listen a moment and learn 
how it is done. 

You descend a flight of stairs into a basement 
and enter the mystic portals. A colored servi- 
tor, almost nude, escorts you politely to a 
dressing-room. The torrid atmosphere has 
already produced a feeling of enervation, and 



129 



you doff your clothes with alacrity. You then 
wind about you the sheet with which you have 
been provided and emerge, giving all your 
valuables to a clerk, who deposits them in the 
safe. You are then led to the "hot-room," as it 
called, in which you remain as long as you like. 
Hot? Well, rather. The senses become 

numbed and dulled 
under the great heat, 
but the sensation is de- 
licious beyond descrip- 
tion. Lying full length 




on the couch, fairy visions float before the mind. 
Try to think connectedly and the effort will be 
a failure. The mind becomes a strange jumble, 
in which people and events, real and imaginary, 
mix themselves without volition of yours in a 
kaleidoscopic mass of pleasant pictures. A 



130 

copious and wholesome perspiration breaks out 
at every pore. After awhile even the strongest 
of us has had enough of it, and another stage 
of the process is reached. 

The bather is now laid full length on a mar- 
ble slab, with a blown-out rubber pillow under his 
head. A stalwart negro takes him in hand. He 
is rubbed, pinched and pounded and kneaded 
with a vigor that at any other time might be 
unpleasant. In the drowsy languor of the 
moment, however, it is all right, and when the 
servitor presently smears him all over with 
sweet smelling suds only to rinse him copiously 
a minute afterward with a bucket of tepid 
water the subject of the operation would not 
change places with the king of Siam or any 
other potentate of whom he has heard great 
things. This done, he is led to the shower 
bath, where the gentle stream falls over him for 
a few minutes, at first warm, then colder, until 
he rushes out from under a veritable stream of 
ice-water. Acting under instructions he plunges 
without hesitation head-foremost into the big 
swimming bath that stands ready to receive 
him. In this he may sport and gambol at will 
until he is tired, and in the cool embrace of the 
spacious tank the fever of the hot-room is for- 
gotten and his body brought back to a normal 
temperature. Emerging from the swimming- 



131 

bath he is rubbed perfectly dry by an attend- 
ant and escorted to a couch in a large, cool 
room, where, wrapped in a sheet, he may lie as 
long as he lists in the sweet, dreamless sleep of 
the happy and the just. If it is his first expe- 
rience he will vow on leaving the place that, as 
as well as being refreshed and revivified he 
feels cleaner than he ever felt in all his life, and, 
as cleanliness is said to be next to godliness, 
this is something by no means to be despised. 
A Turkish bath in a first-class place costs |i, 
though there are plenty of places where the 
charge is lower. Most Turkish bath establish- 
ments have an apartment especially provided 
for ladies. 

Massage — a good deal is contained in the 
word. There are massage parlors in Chicago 
and again there are — massage parlors, or 
at least those called such by their proprietors. 
There are legitimate massage parlors conducted 
by competent physicians, employing skilled 
male operators who treat the applicant with 
every consideration. Massage — which consists 
of rubbing weak or otherwise affected parts of 
the body with the hands — is recommended by 
many physicians as a cure for rheumatism and 
kindred ailments. The applicant seeking such 
treatment, however, should assure himself that 



132 

he is going to a place where he will receive such 
treatment as he needs and nothing else. 

For there are so-called massage parlors — ex- 
tensively advertised in some of the daily papers 
as employing lady operators — that are nothing 
more or less than improper resorts in disguise. 
There have been times when the "massage" 
question has received critical and analytical 
attention from one or more sensational papers, 
and the disclosures that have been made from 
time to time have been anything but edifymg. 
The visitor will receive a sort of a Turkish bath 
at the hands of a "lady" operator, but other en- 
tertainment will not be difficult to procure if 
he should express a word or two to that effect. 
From a standpoint of morality as well as 
prudence it is a good plan to let such "mas- 
sage" (?) establishments as brazenly advertise 
their employment of "lady operators" severely 
alone. 

"Manicuring," by which term is signified the 
treatment of the hands, is an industry that is 
only mentioned in this chapter by reason of its 
bearing on the care of the person or the toilet. 
The manicuring establishments are in every 
way respectable. For the sum of one dollar a 
pleasant-faced young woman washes one's 
hands in a preparation of her own manufacture 
and so trims, polishes and fixes up one's finger- 



133 

nails that the average customer does not recog- 
nize them as his own after she has finished the 
delicate task. Aside from the neatness im- 
parted by the operation few men object to the 
sensation produced by having a pretty woman 
manipulate scientifically and dally with his 
clumsy hands for half an hour or more. 



CHAPTER XV. 



HACKMEN AND THEIR WAYS. 

THERE is a well- 
grounded suspicion in 
^some quarters that 
only the hackmen of 
Niagara can compete 
with the hackmen of 
Chicago in their fond- 
ness for extortion and 
their success in prac- 
ticing it. Yet, while it 
is very»true that most 
Chicago hackmen are 
imbued with a praiseworthy desire to earn all they 
can,andarenone too conscientious in their ambi- 
tions to acquire riches rapidly, there is a very easy 
manner in which to avoid disputes, namely: 
make your bargain with your Jehu before you 
enter his vehicle. If, after such an arrange- 
ment, he endeavors to impose upon you at the 
end of the ride, you may be sure he is trying to 
give you the worst of it. In such a contin- 
gency, which may arise in very rare cases, pay 
him nothing whatever until you have called 
a policeman. It is part of every policeman's 




135 

duty to familiarize himself with the schedule of 
legal cab fares, and he will settle the dispute in 
very short order. It will be found, however, 
that most of the public hackmen are pretty 
square fellows, a little bit prone to try for the 
best it, maybe, but always amenable to reason, 
— particularly if it be a uniformed officer who 
talks the " reason " to them. 

As a general thing it will be found that the 
street-cars provide ample facilities for trans- 
portation to any given point in any direction. 
There is a uniform fare of five cents on all the 
lines, and for this trifling sum one may ride 
many miles on any of the cable lines. These 
lines run direct to all the parks and most peo- 
ple choose this inexpensive mode of traveling. 
Occasionally, however, parties desire a more 
luxurious mode of transit, preferring to visit the 
parks in a carriage and drive about in the pleas- 
ant intricacies of the leafy aisles instead of 
traveling afoot; in which case an understand- 
ing with the driver before the start is made be- 
comes an imperative necessity. But in order 
that there may be no mistake it is just as well 
to set forth briefly the legal rate for cab-hire es- 
tablished by the city ordinance. 

The charge of conveying one or two passen- 
gers from one railroad depot to another in a 
hack — by which term is signified a vehicle 



136 

drawn by two horses — is one dollar; for con- 
veying one or two passengers any distance over 
one mile and less that two miles, 1 1.50; for each 
additional two persons of the same party, fifty 
cents. For conveying one or two passengers 
any distance exceeding two miles the charge is 
I2.00 — fifty cents more for each additional pas- 
senger of the same party. Children between 
the ages of five and fourteen years call for half 
rates, but there is no charge for youngsters un- 
der five — providing that the distance they are 
carried does not exceed one mile. In case it is 
desired to charter a hack for the day the charge 
is |8. Four persons may ride in this way, from 
point to point, stopping as often as they may 
wish. Or the hack may be chartered by the 
hour, the charge for which system is as follows: 
Two dollars for the first hour and one dollar for 
each additional hour or part of an hour. As to 
baggage, each passenger is allowed to carry with- 
out charge one trunk and twenty-five pounds of 
other baggage. For each additional package 
so carried the driver may charge fifteen cents. 
Baggage of course is only carried on short trips, 
between railroad depots and hotels, it being 
presumable that no traveler wishes to take his 
trunk with him out to the park or to the World's 
Fair grounds. 

The rates for hansom cabs, or other one- 



137 

horse vehicles, is much lower, being twenty-five 
cents per mile or fraction of a mile for each 
passenger. By the hour, seventy-five cents for 
the first hour and twenty cents for each quarter 
of an hour thereafter. For service outside the 
city limits and in the parks : for the first hour, 
one dollar, and twenty-five cents additional for 
each quarter of an hour thereafter. It should 
be remembered that no time engagements will 
be made by any driver for less than an. hour. 

It is the duty of every hackman and cabman 
to have posted conspicuously in his vehicle the 
rates of fare as quoted above. The law re- 
quires him to do so. But even if he has com- 
plied with the legal requirements it is just 
as well to make the bargain with him before 
starting, particularly if the journey be a lon^r 
one. Disputes can be most easily avoided in 
that way. 

Many people prefer to secure their carriages 
from the hotel livery stables. The charge in 
that case will be somewhat higher, with a cor- 
responding advantage, of course, in the point of 
style. 

When a party of twenty to thirty people wish 
to take an outing in the parks the best plan is 
to charter a coach, or '' tally-ho," as it is gener- 
ally called, and the charge for which is ^25 to 
I30 for the afternoon or evening. When di- 



138 

vided up equally between the gentlemen of the 
party the cost is by no means ruinous. These 
coaches are drawn by four or six horses and the 
ride is always an enjoyable, not to say exhila- 
rating, one. It is considered de riguer on such 
occasions for the two handsomest men in the 
party to station themselves at the foot of the 
ladder and help the ladies up to the best seats 
on the roof of the coach. 

For the journey to Jackson Park and the 
World's Fair grounds hacks and cabs are little 
in demand for the reason that, if the cable cars 
are not considered quick or commodious 
enough, the Illinois Central trains, which run 
every few minutes, stop at the South Park 
station, at the very gates of Jackson Park. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE city's moral SIDE. 

CHICAGO has 
been called, in its 
time, the wickedest 
city in the world, and 
somehow or other 
(in exactly what 
manner it matters 
not) the impression 
has gone abroad that 
it is really a very wick- 
ed place indeed. It 
is with the idea of 
counteracting this im- 
pression in some degree that reference is about 
to be made to some institutions, the very ex- 
istence of which, denotes a desire on the part of 
the respectable majority to do all they can for the 
benefit and improvement of the minority, given 
over to evil ways. 

Every great city in the world has its wicked 
side. Chicago is not an exception to the rule, 
but it may be maintained, with earnest empha- 
sis, that it is at least no worse in this respect 
than its contemporary cities. It contains, more- 




140 

over, some institutions that should atone, in 
the eyes of its critics, for some of the evils that 
are undoubtedly to be found within its borders. 

It is possible for a perfectly moral person, 
one used to all the refinement and peace of 
the most law-abiding and self-respecting of 
communities, to spend any length of time in 
Chicago without being contaminated by the evil 
that may be found easily enough if sought. 
This statement is made with due consideration 
and careful thought. It 'may seem a bold one, 
but it is true, nevertheless. 

In a previous chapter, on the churches of Chi- 
cago, the author has given the readei some idea 
of the strictly religious institutions of the city. 
But there are other institutions, semi-secular in 
their nature and tone, but wholesome in their 
effect upon the moral welfare of stranger and 
native alike, that deserve especial mention. 

This allusion does not apply to the inebriate 
asylums, the hospitals or charitable institutions. 
They are too numerous to particularize, but 
they all exert a wholesome effect upon the mor- 
al welfare of the city. But the Young Men's 
Christian Association, or, rather, the Chicago 
branch of it, deserves some special attention. 
The present home of the Association, on the south 
side of Madison street, between Clark and 
La Salle, was for a long time ample to provide 



141 

for the wants of members and strangers. A 
new building, however, is in course of prepara- 
tion. The site of the new building adjoins the 
present property. The lot has a 52 foot front 
on La Salle street and 185 feet on Arcade 
court. One-third of the space in the new 
building will be utilized for Association pur- 
poses and the remainder for offices, the ground 
floor being rented for stores. The Y. M. C. A. 
proper will have two stories fronting on La 
Salle street and seven on Arcade court. The 
estimated cost of the new building, which will 
contain libraries, reading-rooms, gymnasium, 
etc., of the most approved description, will be 
$1,400,000. 

The Young Men's Christian Association is an 
organization whose influence is felt around the 
world. Its branches extend to every inhabited 
portion of the globe, and it goes without saying, 
perhaps, that a member of the Y. M. C. A. from 
another city is always sure of a welcome at 
the home of the Association in this city or else- 
where. In addition to the members, strangers 
are always welcome at the Association rooms 
and every considera'tion shown for their bene- 
fit and comfort. 

The Chicago membership is over 5,000. 
There are five branches in different parts of the 
city. 



142 

The Public Library is an institution the good 
influence of which can hardly be over-estima- 
ted. It is at present located on the fourth floor 
of the City Hall building, though in future years 
it will occupy a splendid home of its own now 
in progress of erection on the vacant lot known 
as Dearborn Park, Michigan avenue, between 
Randolph and Washington streets. It is one 
of the largest free public libraries in the world, 
and its reading and reference rooms are at all 
times open to strangers. A card signed by 
some respectable citizen is the only passport 
needed to its circulating shelves. 

The new Women's building, at the corner of La 
Salle and Monroe streets, must remain an 
everlasting monument to the influence of good 
women upon the existence of mankind, at least 
so far as Chicago is concerned. It was erected 
under the supervision of the Woman's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union, of which Miss Frances 
Willard is President, and is devoted to all the 
purposes in which female organizations are in- 
terested. The building is fifteen stories in 
height and the architecture is superb. Lady 
visitors will find it more than worth their while 
to inspect it. 

The Permanent Art building, now in course 
of erection on the Lake Front, on the site of the 
old Exposition building, is to take the place of 



143 

the old Art Institute, corner of Michigan ave- 
nue and Van Buren street, recently purchased 
by the Chicago club. The structure has a 
frontage of 320 feet on Michigan avenue, a 
length of 178 feet and a depth of 208, with a 
main entrance facing Adams street. In it^ 
when complete, will be found as fine an art col- 
lection as any on the American continent, upon 
which the visitor or student may spend hours 
in meditative gazing. The World's Fair di- 
rectory contributed |200,ooo toward the erection 
of the building, 1275,000 more was raised by the 
sale of the old building, and #125,000 by private 
subscription. The structure, when completed 
and filled to the satisfaction of its projectors, 
will be one of the sights of Chicago. 

There are many other features that might be 
mentioned as embracing the workings of Chris- 
tian influence upon the mighty and ever-increas- 
ing population of the city, but those mentioned 
will suffice. There are a hundred avenues 
open to peaceful enjoyment for old and young, 
rich and poor. 

It is possible to spend any length of time in 
this city, and enjoy yourself in a quiet, unos- 
tentatious and perfectly moral way without be- 
ing contaminated by the evil that confessedly 
exists in certain spots. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE PARKS AND BOULEVARDS. 



SO much space hav- 
ing been devoted, not 
without reason, to the 
attractions of Chicago 
after the evening 
shadows have fallen, 
it is with a feeling of 
pleasure that one turns 
to the charms of the 
city by day. If there 
is a city in the world 
calculated to offer the 
tourists opportunities 
for pleasure in th*e day- 
time it is Chicago. It 
is natural, perhaps, in considering these oppor- 
tunities, to refer to the parks and boulevards of 
Chicago, which, as good judges of such matters 
have said, constitute a whole host of attractions 
in themselves. 

The park system of Chicago is something 
upon which the city prides itself perhaps more 
highly than on anything else. There is no city in 
the world that contains such a complete system 




- 145 

of breathing-places for the people as is to be 
found in this one. The parks of Chicago em- 
brace a total area of 2,074 acres, which is exclu- 
sive of grounds covered by park boulevards. 
The park system makes the circuit of the city, 
being connected by boulevards and embracing 
a total length of perhaps 40 miles. The system 
is divided into three divisions, each one of 
which is under the control of park commission- 
ers, which commissioners are elected by the 
courts. There are therefore three separate or 
distinct government bodies: the South park 
commissioners, the North park commissioners 
and the West park commissioners, who care 
for the territories under their control, which are 
maintained by a tax upon the three divisions 
of the city above signified. The city govern- 
ment maintains the control over numerous 
small parks or squares, which are maintained 
by the city treasury. All of the great parks 
are easy of access, being easily reached by any 
of the cable lines at the rate of five cents per 
passenger. South park, Jackson park and 
Washington park may be speedily reached by 
the Illinois Central at the rate of 25 cents for 
the round trip. 

Chicago's boast that it possesses the finest 
parks of any city in the world will be found on 
investigation to be borne out by the facts. The 



146 

area of territory under care and cultivation, the 
artistic manner in which the grounds are laid 
out and the general excellence of the iout en- 
semble so provided cannot be rivaled by any 
of the cities in the Old World. It is not proposed 
in this modest work to give a technical description 
of the various parks of the city, but rather to 
convey a general idea of the natural and arti- 
ficial beauties to be found within their' limits. 
On summer nights, when the hot air of the 
streets drives the crowds from the business 
district to seek a refuge or breathing-place, the 
cars that lead to the various parks are thronged 
to the guards with people whose only universal 
desire is to get away to some cool spot where 
they may enjoy a gentler atmosphere, with per- 
haps a cool breeze thrown in. 

Of the many parks of which the city boasts 
Lincoln park is perhaps the most popular. 
This, perhaps, is because it is nearest to the 
business centre and is also one of the largest, 
situated, as it is, on the very shore of Lake 
Michigan and stretching from Diversey street on 
the north to North avenue on the south, being 
bounded on the west by Clark street. 

Lincoln park is reached from the south by 
the Lake Shore drive, which is already the fin- 
est boulevard drive in Chicago, and which, when 
it extends, as is promised, to the military post 



M7 

at Ft. Sheridan, will be unequaled in all the 
world. The drive proper commences at North 
side water works on Pine street and skims 
along the lake to the northern extremities of 
the park itself, connecting at the park's north- 
ern most end with, the Sheridan drive, which, 
when complete, will extend a distance of 25 
miles along the lake. Along this drive are 
grouped some of the finest private mansions of 
which the city can boast. Noticeable among 
these is the home of Potter Palmer, the proprie- 
tor of the Palmer House, whose wife occupies 
the proud position of president of the Board 
of Lady Managers of the World's Fair. The 
Palmer castle, as it is called, is a giant struc- 
ture of dark-gray stone and its towers and tur- 
rets present an appearance very little less 
imposing than the ancient castles of the Old 
World. The Palmer castle is pointed out to 
the visitors as one of the sights of the city. On 
the right side of the drive is a strong embank- 
ment surmounted by a wall of solid stone, 
against which the waves beat ceaselessly. On 
bright days the drive is fairly thronged with 
brilliant equipages and the sight is a very gay 
one. A boat racing course, especially de- 
signed for regattas, commences just beyond the 
entrance to the park, being protected from the 
fury of the sea by an outer pier. 



148 

Lincoln park itself is about 250 acres in area. 
In old days it was a cemetery and the tomb of 
the Couch family is one of its land-marks. It 
has been under state supervision since the 
year 1869, when the first board of commission- 
ers was appointed. All that art can contribute 
to nature has been directed upon the project 
of beautifying this lovely place, and the wind- 
ing avenues, the glassy lakes, the rich foliage, 
the gorgeous beds of flowers and masses of 
shrubs combine to produce as attractive a pict- 
ure as mortal mind could conceive or human 
eyes delight in. Aside from the natural beau- 
ties of the place Lincoln park possesses other 
attractions in the way of statuary and a zoolog- 
ical collection, which exercise a peculiar charm 
for visitors. Notable among the former is the 
Grant monument, facing Lake Michigan on the 
Lake Shore drive, the cost of which was $100,000, 
the same being defrayed by popular subscription. 
There is also the Lincoln statue, by St. Gaud- 
ens, which faces the main entrance and was 
presented, together with a drinking fountain, by 
the late Eli Bates, statue and fountain costing 
150,000. Other monumental works, notably the 
Indian Group in bronze, presented by the late 
Martin Ryerson; the La Salle monument, pre- 
sented by Lambert Tree; the Schiller monu- 
ment, erected by German residents of Chi- 



149 

cago, and the Linne monument, erected by the 
Swedish residents of Chicago, are to be found 
at various points of the park. There are also 
magnifient conservatories, in the flowery mazes 
of which the visitor may wander at will, feast- 
ing his senses on beauties there to be found. A 
feature of Lincoln park is the new palm house 
just erected, the dimensions of which are i68 
by 70 feet, with a rear extension, and in which 
every variety of tropical palm will be exhibited. 
The cost of this structure was $60,000 and it 
will well repay a visit. 

From Lincoln park to Douglas park is a 
long jump, but for the sake of continuity that 
jump may be appropriately taken, for the West 
side parks come next in importance to Lincoln 
park when one is considering the entire system. 
The area of Douglas park is 180 acres. It is 
situated in a northwesterly direction four miles 
from the Court House, being bounded on the 
north by 12th street, on the west by Albany 
avenue and on the south by W. 19th street. 
The 12th street cars take the passenger to the 
very gates of the park. Douglas park is loca- 
ted in a neighborhood which some years ago 
was almost entirely destitute of residences, but 
within the last few years it has been built up 
to such an extent that those who saw the 
neighborhood in the days of its primitiveness 



ISO 

would scarcely recognize it now. The people 
who live in that neighborhood have great affec- 
tion for Douglas park, which is artistically laid 
out and very skillfully cultivated. There is a 
large lake with a boat-house and refectory. It 
has also an artesian well whose waters are said 
to contain fine medicinal properties. 

The chief park of the West side, however, is 
Garfield park, which is reached by the W. 
Madison street cable cars, being situated four 
miles directly west of the court house. It is 
bounded by Lake street on the north, Madison 
street on the south, extending a mile and a half 
west from Washington boulevard. In order to 
drive to Garfield park one may traverse Wash- 
ington boulevard, which, lined as it is with fine 
residences, is one of the prettiest and most at- 
tractive to be found in the whole city. It is an 
exceedingly well paved boulevard and on cer- 
tain occasions, when the police are not too vigi- 
lant, some smart brushes between the rival 
owners of fast horses are occasionally to be 
seen on its broad stretch of smooth road-way. 
This park was not always known as Garfield; 
its first name was Central park, but this was 
changed in honor to the memory of the mar- 
tyred president. The park itself is picturesque 
beyond measure, its drives and promenades 
being laid out in such a manner as to cater to 



151 

the most exacting of tastes. Among its fea- 
tures may be mentioned a handsome fountain, 
the gift of Mrs. Mancel Talcott, and an arte- 
sian well 200 feet deep, which discharges mineral 
water at the rate of 150 gallons per hour. 
Beautiful as Garfield park is at the present 
writting it bids fair within the next few years 
to be advanced to an even more perfect state. 
The people of the West side are determined 
that it shall be one of the handsomest parks 
in the city, and are sparing no efforts to make 
it so. The West side cable cars reach a ter- 
minus at this point, but connecting with them 
is an .electric line which carries passengers out 
to the town of Cicero, through the suburbs of 
Austin and Oak Parks, at the uniform fare of 
5 cents. 

Humboldt park is another West side breath- 
ing-place in which the residents of the locality 
in which it is situated take especial pride. Its 
area is 200 acres and it lies four miles north- 
west from the court house, being bounded on the 
south by Augusta street, on the east by N. 
California avenue, on the west by N. Kedzie 
avenue, and on the north by W. North ave- 
nue. Humboldt park is beautifully laid out 
and its trees, shrubs and flowers are of superb 
beauty. It has a fine conservatory and an arte- 
sian well 1,155 f^^t deep. 



152 

The South side park system is the most com- 
plete of any in the city, and it monopoHzes the 
favor of visitors who desire to make a speedy 
circuit of the three handsomest parks in the 
town within the short space of half a day. The 
system of boulevards leading to these parks 
cannot be equaled in the whole world. Michi- 
gan avenue boulevard, which commences at 
Jackson street and the Lake Front, is the open 
sesame to a drive as delicious as the most exact- 
ingf soul can desire. This street is one hundred 
feet wide from curb to curb and skirts the Lake 
Front park at its commencement. Speeding 
up Michigan avenue, in whatever sort of con- 
veyance the taste of the tourist may select, a 
fine view is obtained of some of the finest resi- 
dences to be found in the whole city, many of 
whose millionaires have built palatial homes at 
distances greater or less from the business dis- 
trict. Michigan avenue proper extends south to 
35th street. At 35th street commence two 
boulevards, Drexel boulevard and Grand boule- 
vard. Drexel boulevard commences at Oak- 
wood and the junction of Cottage Grove avenue 
and 39th street, and has a double drive-way 
200 feet wide, having in its centre a wide strip 
of turf dotted with shrubs and flowering plants, 
and at its western side a soft track for eques- 
trians. It was named after the Messrs. Drexel, 



153 

the famous bankers of Philadelphia, who, in ap- 
preciation of the compliment thus bestowed, 
have erected a fine bronze fountain at the in- 
tersection of Drexel avenue. Grand boulevard 
is a very similar stretch of road-way in all re- 
spects. It runs south from 35th street, where 
South Park avenue joins that thoroughfare, and 
forms the northwestern entrance to Washing- 
ton park. It also presents a beautiful road-way 
for driving and has a side strip for equestrians, 
with flower beds, shrubs and green turf on either 
side. Both of these boulevards are dotted by 
magnificent private residences, the chosen 
homes of the wealthiest class in the city. 
They form dual entrances to the circuit of bou- 
levards leading to the famous Washington park 
race-track, of which mention will be found in 
another chapter. 

Washington park, then, is entered from the 
beautiful drive-way on Drexel boulevard, is most 
delightfully situated a little over a mile from 
Lake Michigan and nearly seven miles south- 
east from the court house, being bounded on 
the west and north by Cottage Grove avenue 
and 51st street, on the south by 60th streetc 
In the opinion of many people it is the finest of 
all of Chicago's parks, being 371 acres in area, 
its floral beauties and its charms of hillocks, 
shrubbery, woods and water being almost be- 



yond description. There is a great play-ground 
lOO acres in extent, upon which any one is free 
to indulge in any sort of athletic game that 
fancy may dictate, also a large lake upon which 
boating may be indulged. There is also a 
splendid conservatory, in which many rare 
flowers of all lands may be viewed at any time. 
The floral display is in charge of a great army 
of skilled gardeners, who change the designs 
from season to season and always manage to 
turn out something new. 

Jackson park proper, the extreme southern 
part of which has been selected as the site for 
the World's Fair, lies about eight miles south- 
east of the court house, being bounded as fol- 
lows: on the west by Stony Island avenue, on 
the north by 56th street, on the south by 67th 
street and on the west by the blue waters of Lake 
Michigan. The works incident to the prepara- 
tion for the World's Fair include the excavating 
and dredging of the little lakes connected with 
Lake Michigan. The preparations for the Fair 
have not materially interfered with the north- 
ern portion of the park, the major portion of 
which is devoted to a huge play-ground which 
is utilized all through the summer by the de- 
votees of tennis, base-ball and cricket, or by the 
militia as a parade ground. Surrounding this 
open expanse of turf are beautiful wooded ave- 



I5S 

nues, while on the east side is a sea wall and 
promenade from which a superb view may be 
had of the lake. Midway north and south in 
the park, on the very edge of the water, is a 
large stone pavilion, in which thousands of 
people may find shelter in rainy weather, and 
which is sometimes used for dances and other 
festivities during the summer months. 

Visitors who desire to make a circuit of the 
South park system cannot do better than patron- 
ize the phaetons which start every few minutes 
from the northern terminus of Drexel boulevard 
and make the circuit in about one hour, the 
charge for which is 25 cents. 

It should be remembered that in case the visi- 
tor desires to make the circuit of all the parks 
in a day the chain of boulevards extends com- 
pletely around the city. It is impossible to 
lose one's way and the merest hint at a desire 
for information at any point of the journey will 
meet with the readiest response. In addition 
to the parks herein described there are a num- 
ber of smaller pretensions, mere breathing-pla- 
ces, scattered about the city, that, while not 
affording much opportunity for study, will, 
nevertheless, be found to greatly enhance the 
attractions of the journey. The scene in any 
of the great parks, particularly at night, when 
they are filled with pleasure-seekers, will be 



156 

found to be well worth investigation. At that 
time there are all sorts and conditions of people 
to be found, all bent upon the enjoyment of the 
hour and determined to console themselves so 
far as they may for the trials and vexations of 
the day. The moon is shedding an indulgent 
light down upon the merry-makers as they 
stroll to and fro in laughing groups beneath 
the whispering trees. There is light, mirth, 
laughter everywhere, and the merriment of the 
idling wanderers is echoed from time to time 
by the rippling of the water as it laps upon the 
sandy shore. It is indeed a pleasant picture. 
Far away in the distance, separated by only a 
few miles of dusty roads, is the great city, teem- 
ing with life, turmoil and wickedness. Here 
all is peace. The air is soft and balmy, the 
spirits of the merry-makers are at their high- 
est without being vexed either by the recollec- 
tion of the tumult of the day or care for the 
morrow. The benison of night, assisted by the 
art of mankind, is perhaps responsible for the 
beauty of the scene and the spirit of happiness 
and content that prevails. Visit any of the 
parks on a hot summer night for an hour or 
two, when all the world is devoted to calm re- 
laxation, and see if you do not subscribe to the 
sentiment. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



RACING. 

THE national love of horse- 
racing, which is growing in intensity 
year by year, finds no- 
where a better ground 
■' for development than 
in Chicago. There are in ac- 
- tive operation in this city dur- 
I ing the months of summer and 
^n autumn three admirably 
equipped race tracks, where the 
fleetest horses in the world are 
entered in daily contests for fat 
purses. Attached to each are commodious 
betting-rings, where the spectator may indulge 
in any size of wager he desires, from a dollar 
upward. On any fine day during the summer 
the roads leading to the tracks are thronged with 
gay equipages, which add spirit to a scene 
always varied and beautiful. Two of these 
tracks are located on the West side, one at 
Hawthorne (Corrigan's) and the other at the 
western extremity of Garfield park (the Gar- 
field Racing Association). The other, and by 
far the most famous of the three, is the Wash- 




158 

ington Park Club, at the southern end of 
Washington park. The Washington Park 
Club, under whose auspices the races there are 
given each year, is a somewhat aristocratic 
organization, composed of a number of the well- 
to-do citizens of Chicago. The commodious 
club-house occupies a commanding position to the 
west of the grand stand and admission thereto 
is confined to members and their friends. To 
the grand stand and enclosure adjoining, the 
public is admitted at a charge of one dollar 
per head. The betting-ring is under the grand 
stand, and, from the fact that one hundred 
book-makers are sometimes doing busmess there 
at the same time and paying the club |ioo per 
day apiece for the privilege, it may be inferred 
that the industry is highly profitable. 

The races given every year at this beautiful 
track are famous the country over. They com- 
mence early in the month of June with the 
American Derby, a race for three-year-olds, 
for which a stake of over #20,000 in value is an- 
nually hung up. Derby day is one of the 
events of the year in Chicago. Every vehicle 
capable of transporting two or more people to 
the pleasure ground is bespoken for weeks be- 
forehand. Along Michigan avenue the gay 
cavalcade goes — tally-hos with their freight of 
gallant knights and ladies fair; wagonettes, 



159 

dog-carts, man phaetons, with their clanking 
chains and glossy steeds; tandems, cocking- 
carts — the new fashionable vehicle drawn by 
three horses abreast — down to the simplest and 
most democratic of conveyances. Away they 
go, and every windovv along the route contains 
its group of people who, while not going to the 
Derby themselves, intend to see the best part 
of the show. For hours the procession con- 
tinues, the vehicles turning from Michigan ave- 
nue into the boulevards and then winding into 
the parks, to emerge presently at the great gate- 
way of the tracks and unload their pleasure- 
seeking occupants. 

The scene when the bell is rung for the great 
race is one which impresses itself on the mind 
beyond all possibility of effacement. Specta- 
tors are packed in the paddock like sardines in 
a box. The grand stand is a solid mass of men 
and women, the toilets of the latter presenting a 
brilliant picture in the gorgeous sunlight. In 
the centre of the great in-field, as it is called, 
jockeys and stable boys are walking about, and 
scattered here and there are some of the noble 
brutes that are to take part in the day's contest. 
The horses come on the track and a buzz 
sweeps over the vast assemblage as they go 
cantering to the post. A few minutes of sur- 
pense and then— "They're off!" cries the crowd 



i6o 

and past the grand stand they sweep Hke a 
splendid troop of cavalry, the jockeys sitting 
like statues on the struggling beasts, each one 
of which is animated by an almost human de- 
termination to conquer in the struggle. A mo- 
ment more- and it is over, and a roar goes up as 
the winner sweeps past the judge's stand. The 
great Derby has been lost for some and won 
by others. After the subsequent and lesser 
races are over the cavalcade sweeps back to the 
city again, the winners shouting and singing for 
joy and the losers solemn in their silence. 

The Washington park meeting lasts till the 
latter part of July. The present officers of the 
club are as follows: President, George Henry 
Wheeler; vice-presidents, Samuel W. Allerton, 
Albert S. Gage, H. I. McFarland, Charles 
Schwartz; treasurer, John R. Walsh; secretary, 
John E. Brewster; assistant secretary, James 
Howard; directors, N. K. Fairbank, Norman 
B. Ream, Samuel W. Allerton, James W. Oak- 
ley, Columbus R. Cummings, Charles I. Barnes, 
John R. Walsh, Henry Norton, A. S. Gage, S. 
H. Sweet, G. H. Wheeler, Thomas Murdock, 
H. J. McFarland, C. J. Singer, and others. 

The Garfield park and Corrigan tracks com- 
mence operation at the close of the Washington 
park meeting. The gatherings at these tracks 
are by no means so aristocratic, but the purses off- 



461 

ered are rich and the racing is of the first quality. 
The betting facilities are ample. For a while 
the admission to the Corrigan track was free, 
but it is a question whether the practice will be 
followed in future. 

At present Chicago is one of the liveliest 
racing centers in the country during the season 
and the visitor who desires to see a little of this 
exciting sport will find the amplest facilities at 
his command for so doing. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



OPEN-AIR ENTERTAINMENTS. 




UNDER this head come 
the open-air shows of dif- 
ferent dimensions, one or 
more of which are always 
running in Chicago during 
the summer months. Last 
year Thearle & Cooper gave 
the pubhc a treat with an 
entertainment that they 
styled ''A Night in Pekin." 
-\The location was the great 
vacant lot at the southern limit of Washington 
Park, across the street from the race-track of 
that name. Tiers upon tiers of seats acom- 
modated thousands of spectators, who watched 
the drama, enacted in pantomime, of the de- 
struction of the city of Pekin by the British 
naval forces. The work of desolation was pre- 
ceded by games, slack-wire walking and other 
interesting feats. The bombardment itself was 
a magnificent spectacle. As the big buildings 
came toppling down in ruins and the inhabi- 
tants rushed screaming about, showers upon 
showers of fire-works were discharged and the 



i63 

roaring of the great guns kept up until the 
work of demolition was over. It was conceded 
atthetimethatthe spectacle,fromapyrotechnical 
standpoint, was the finest ever seen in Chicago, 
but from all accounts the shows to be given 
this year and next will eclipse it. For the 
World's Fair year the Kiralfys, those consum- 
mate masters of the spectacular, have promised 
a production on the same order as the "Night 
in Pekin" that shall totally eclipse anything in 
the line of an open-air show ever before seen or 
heard of. Its exact nature has not yet been 
outlined, but if all the promises are kept it will 
be something very wonderful. 

The attractions of this sort of an entertain- 
ment are manifold. Aside from the show itself, 
which is always interesting, there is the pleas- 
ant, happy-go-lucky spirit that always pervades 
great crowds bent on an evening's fun. The 
peanut and lemonade venders ply their calling 
briskly, and come in for the usual share of '*guy- 
ing" that such merchants always excite. In hot 
weather the out-doorspectacles detract from the 
attendance at the theatres, people preferring to 
secure their entertainment in the open air if 
possible. Spectacles like *'Pekin," it is perhaps 
unnecessary to say, cost many thousands of dol- 
lars to produce. 

Speaking of the peanut and lemonade men 



164 



reminds one that the two great circuses, Bar- 
num & Bailey's and Forepaugh's, exhibit in 
Chicago every summer. They generally appear 
for two weeks each, and of course parade in 
due form, according to custom, throu^^h the 



streets of the city on 
Who shall picture •! 
circus? Are they '}'( 



memory 



the opening day. 
the delights of the 
not as old as the 
Strange but true it 
is, that the older we 
get the circus that 
we remember as 
the circus of our 
youth strengthens 
its charm upon our 
memory and we 
would not miss a sight of 
it if we could. We have 
the added pleasure of tak- 
ing our little ones to see 
the sights that so de- 
lighted us in our own child- 
hood, and that should be 
the keenest pleasure of all. 
A summer rarely passes without a succession 
of smaller shows in the open air, such as balloon 
ascensions, bicycle races, cricket and base-ball 
matches and so on. There is a resort known 
as Cheltenham Beach, a strip of sand twelve 
miles from the City Hall , reached by the Illinois 




^"!ii 



i65 

Central railway and known as "The Coney 
Island of the West/' although it has never 
touched the real Coney Island in point of pros- 
perity. At Cheltenham Beajch there is always 
a show of some sort going on. It may be ath- 
letics. It may be a broad-sword combat be- 
tween mounted gladiators. It may be an as- 
cent by a parachute artist, a nervy gentleman 
who soars a thousand feet in the air in a balloon 
and then descends gracefully to the earth (at the 
imminent and exhilarating risk of his neck) 
under a parachute to which he clings by a thin 
trapeze bar. This is a hair-raising exhibition 
frequently seen and quite often ending in the 
maiming for life of the hardy aerial navigator. 
At Cheltenham Beach, however, everything 
''goes," as it were, and nobody ever complains 
unless it is on account of the small amount of 
beer doled out for the conventional nickel. Oc- 
casionally they have barbecues and clam-bakes 
at Cheltenham Beach, which, though at times 
enjoyable, are not exactly the class of entertain- 
ment to which one would invite the ladies of 
his family. 

There are always vast crowds of people in 
Chicago athirst for amusement. That is why 
amusement caterers grow so rich when they 
give good shows. It has been the purpose of 
the present chapter to show that there is plenty 
of amusement to be found out-of-doors. 



CHAPTER XX. 



AN IDEAL AFTERNOON. 




THE charms of Chicago 
as a summer resort have been 
sung ever since one can remem- 

No matter how sultry the at- 



ber. 



mosphere in the down-town district, there is 
generally a cool breeze from the lake to tem- 
per the fierceness of the sun if one can only 
get where it is blowing. It is the purpose of 
the present chapter to describe how a simply 
ideal afternoon may be spent, provided the 
weather is suitable, by a drive along the north 
shore, taking in two well-known summer resorts 
in the journey. 

About three in the afternoon is a good time 
to start. By that time the sun has moved well 
around toward the western heavens and the 
extremity of its fierceness has departed. Let 
it be understood for the sake of illustration 
that the traveler has secured a companion foi 



16; 

the journey — for who likes to go driving alone, 
I should like to know? — and this makes him 
seem so much the better natured when he asks 
the hotel clerk to procure him from some first- 
class livery stable the particular sort of a rig he 
may fancy. It may be either a modest one- 
horse buggy, a high-wheeled cart (if it is de- 
sired to make an attempt at style), a mail-phae- 
ton with a spanking team, or any one of half 
a dozen other styles of conveyance to be had 
at short notice. It may even happen that he 
has secured a lady companion for the trip, and 
if so, the lucky dog is to be envied, eh? Who 
does not know how much more pleasure is at- 
tached to the task of holding the ribbons when 
one's left elbow is continually jolting against 
the shoulder of a pretty woman at one's side. 

The start is made in due season. The pace 
is necessarily careful up Michigan avenue and 
on to the big Rush street bridge (we are to have 
a mammoth viaduct hereabouts some day, so 
*' they say") but once on the North side the gait 
may be accelerated to a slashing trot, the smart 
pace of which will lend an added color to the 
cheek of the charmer at your elbow — always 
supposing the companion to be feminine. 
Turning into Dearborn avenue at Ohio street 
the smooth asphalt pave is encountered on 
which the hoofs of the spirited animals sound 



i68 

smartly. It is only a few minutes until North 
avenue is passed and Lincoln Park reached, 
upon which we swerve gently to the right, pass 
around the curves by Mr. Yerkes' great electric 
fountain, and the Lake Shore Drive (referred 
to in a previous chapter) is reached. Hence 
and away there stretches a wide and smooth 
expanse of roadway two full miles straight to 
the northward. The blue waters of the lake 
are dancing and sparkling in the sunlight. The 
refreshing breeze is coming straight from the 
east and rustling the green foliage of the trees 
on the left. Is it any wonder that the blood 
flows quicker through the veins and that the 
tug of the horses at the bits produces an exhila- 
ration that leads to a desire for increased speed? 
Even the beasts feel the spirit of the thing, and 
dash ahead buoyantly over the broad roadway. 
Other vehicles swarm over the pleasure course 
— heavy family carriages, in which fat dow- 
agers are taking an airing; dog carts driven 
tandem by smart young men whose fathers 
have big bank accounts, and here and there an 
actual exercising cart with a blooded trotter 
between the shafts — it all makes up a gay 
panorama and the probabilities are that if 
you are human you will let out a link in the 
lines and indulge in a wee bit of a race just to 
see if the horseflesh you are in charge of is not 



169 

just a little better than the next man's. This 
will go all right until the mounted park police- 
man motions you to moderate your pace. His 
mandate must be obeyed or an arrest and fine 
will be the result. The policemen are some- 
times conveniently blind, however, and some- 
times enjoy a bit of a brush as much as any- 
body, but really furious driving is against 
the law and will not be tolerated. 

But the two miles have been passed by this 
time and Diversey street and the northern limit 
of the park is reached. A few yards further 
and it is time to stop, for we have reached the 
great gateway of the famous summer garden, 
formerly known as " Fischer's," but which is 
now conducted by a gentleman of another 
name. No matter what the name is; it is still 
Fischer's just the same. Driving through 
the gates into the grounds a servant takes 
charge of the team, leaving you at liberty to 
stroll down to the covered pavilion which abuts 
on the very edge of the lake and sit and drink 
in the cooling breeze to your heart's con.tent. 
There are other refreshments that you may in- 
dulge in if you choose, but it is generally con- 
ceded that the breeze alone is worth the price 
of admission. 

Fischer's is an established North side resort. 
Besides being a favorite objective point for a 



170 

drive it is also pleasantly accessible by water. 
There is a landing for boats, many of which ar- 
rive there during the afternoon and evening 
hours, freighted with many young folks who 
laugh and sing gaily as they come skimming 
over the water to the common haven. On cer- 
tain evenings during the summer, generally 
three in each week, Professor Rosenbecker's 
orchestra (see Sunday concerts) gives a concert 
at the garden, and then is the time to see whole 
bevies of pretty girls and women, decked out 
in all the attractive bravery of summer attire, 
sipping sherbet or lemonade in the moonlight 
and contributing their quota of charm to a 
scene as picturesque and brilliant as any to be 
found in the West. 

The stop at Fischer's, however, is merely for 
a brief rest and change of scene; with the team 
freshly rubbed down we may start on the drive 
to Sunnyside. A quarter of a mile north of 
Fischer's we turn west to Evanston avenue and 
speed through the pretty suburb of Lake 
View. The branches of the trees at the side 
of the road will brush our hats off as we go by 
if we don't look out. But the horses spin on- 
ward, past neat villas, with their snow-white 
barns in the rear — pictures of comfort; past 
smoothly shaven lawns, upon which young peo- 
ple of both sexes are engaged in rattling games 



171 



of tennis; past lissome beauties who look coyly 
up from the hammocks in which they are indo- 
lently reclining; past all manner of interesting 
objects, each of which lend their separate and 

special charm to the 
journey. We are 
skimming through 
Edgewater presently 
— nicknamed by the 
irreverent ''the dude 
town," by reason 




of its being so very spick and span. Then 
a sharp turn to the left and a long stretch 



\J2 

of highway, Hned on one side by pretty trees. 
It begins to look like the country at last, for 
here are some fields in which thrifty husband- 
men and their wives are at work. A rattle and 
a thud as we cross the railroad tracks, the dust 
flying from the hoofs of our nimble steeds. One 
more sharp turn, a start into a private drive- 
way, and here we are at our destination — Sun- 
nyside. 

One reason, perhaps, why the summer hotel 
— roadhouse, some people call it — named Sun- 
ny side is so popular is that it is just within 
comfortable driving distance of the city. An 
hour and a half, or two hours (counting for the 
customary stop at Fischer's) is the time allowed 
for the journey. The hotel itself, kept by the 
Dowling family for years, is a great rambling 
old wooden building standing in the midst of 
spacious grounds. A peculiarity of the place is 
the beautiful independence of the proprietors, 
an independence that manifests itself in their 
refusal to cater to the whims of guests. A sup- 
per bill of fare is arranged by them. Supper 
costs one dollar per person served; No orders 
for special dishes are taken. You can take 
what is there or go without it. But no one was 
ever heard to complain of the fare. There is 
beef-steak, from the loins of fat cattle slaugh- 
tered by old man Dowling himself. In addi- 



173 

tion, maybe, there is a plump chicken raised in 
old lady Bowling's own poultry yard, and 
whose neck was blithely wrung by her own fair 
hand that very morning. There is green 
corn and ripe tomatoes and young onions and 
other delicacies all raised on the Dowling de- 
mesne, and all included in the dollar. If, there 
has been no joke about it and you really are 
accompanied by the charming damsel I have 
hinted at, the meal is doubtless all the more 
enjoyable. Having youth and good appetite, 
sharpened by the ride, you can do justice to the 
homely and honest fare. You may have a little 
private dining-room all to your two selves, bless 
your dear hearts, and every two minutes or so 
Mother Dowling will come bustling into the 
room, eager to see if you are satisfied with the 
service and anxious to supply any deficiencies. 
She is a sweet old dame, and if by the merest 
chance she should catch you in the very act of 
conveying to your inamorata an idea of the high 
estimation in which you hold her — if, indeed, 
she should detect your face in too close proxim- 
ity to your inamorata's face, her joyous laugh, 
strident and cracked though it may be under 
the stress of the many years that have rolled 
over her head, will echo uncannily through the 
corridors, awakening all the echoes and making 
you wonder if your fair companion will look as 
well as she does when she is as old. 



174 

Dear old Lady Dowling! Venerable high 
priestess of the quaint old sanctuary of Sunny- 
side! Many a time and oft, as the writer has 
heard some merry party of noisy but honest fel- 
lows, of whom, alas ! he was one, roll out the rare 
old drinking chorus: 

" Then here's to Mrs. Dowling, 
Drink her down! Drink her down!" 

has he marvelled at the fewness of the wrin- 
kles upon thy brow — considering all that thou 
hast passed through in thy progress through 
this earthly vale of tears. 

The repast concluded, an adjournment to the 
wide verandah is in order, there to enjoy a 
peaceful smoke and ruminate upon the experi- 
ences of the hour. There may be at the other 
end of the verandah a party of frolicsome 
youths who have driven out on a six-horse tal- 
ly-ho, and who have brought their mandolins 
and guitars along. Their songs and laughter 
fall pleasantly upon the balmy air.^ If the 
songs and laughter grow wearisome you may 
wander among the trees and shrubbery — and, 
always supposing that fair feminine companion 
a pleasant possibility — who may picture the en- 
joyment of such a stroll? The sly old moon, 
always indulgent enough toward lovers to shrink 
gracefully behind a cloud at the critical moment, 
smiles down a jocund benediction upon the 



175 

scene and it is all too soon that one is reminded 
of the flight of time and that the proprieties 
demand a return to town. 

Within three minutes of signifying a wish to 
that effect the conveyance is brought to the 
front door by a cheery hostler, who gracefully 
accepts from you the small douceur that you 
may give him, and which is the only charge — 
even that being voluntary — that is made for the 
entertainment of your team. A chirrup to the 
horses and off you go, the frolicsome youths 
upon the verandah lifting their hats and gratu- 
itously wishing you a pleasant voyage home 
as you speed away. 

The drive back? Well, the pleasure there- 
of always depends upon circumstances. If that 
pleasant possibility before hinted at is an actu- 
ality — why, what is the use of picturing it? 
Have we not all, as it were, been there before? 
But the whispering breeze, the ceaseless mur- 
mur of the wavelets on the shore and the same 
old moon smiling so persistently and blandly 
down — form delicious adjuncts to an experience 
that once enjoyed will not soon be forgotten. 
The spirited horses still tug lustily at the lines, 
but they are homeward bound and you can afford 
them a little latitude if the supposititious com- 
panion seems to demand a little more of your 
attention than she did on the outward journey. 



176 

Pshaw! What does it all matter? It is only 
a few hours of pleasure, after all; yet I think 
you will confess to me, as your horses trot back 
over the Rush street bridge, that it has been 
an ideal afternoon. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



ON THE WATER. 




THE part Lake 
Michigan will play in 
the transportation of 
people to and from 
the World's Fair 
Grounds has not at 
this writing (May, 1 892) 
been definitely deter- 
mined upon. It is be- 
yond question, how- 
ever, that some proper arrangement in this di- 
rection will have been made long before the 
Fair opens, for it would seem highly impossi- 
ble that the great facilities for water transpor- 
tation should not be properly utilized. 

For some reason or other aquatic sports and 
pleasures have not flourished in Chicago as 
they should, considering the immense advan- 
tages in that direction that are lying, as it were, 
at our very doors. Some people attribute the 
small interest of the average Chicagoan in 
aquatics to the unstable character of the great 
sheet of water known as Lake Michigan — an 
unstability which is shown sometimes in the 



178 

quick gathering of storms. The lake may be 
shining like a sheet of glass one hour, and in 
the next heaving tum.ultuously under the 
influence of a squall. This sort of thing puts 
a check on the ambition for boating to some 
extent, but is hardly a sufficient reason why 
the sport of yachting — one of the grandest of 
all sports —should not flourish. The yachts- 
men of New York, Chicago amateur mar- 
riners are fond of arguing, have infinitely 
greater risks to run in New York bay than we 
have in our harbor and lake, but yacht clubs 
flourish there, and in fact in all the cities on the 
Atlantic coast, while in Chicago the enjoyment 
of this royal sport is confined to a few enthusi- 
asts who vainly endeavor to enlist the sympa- 
thies of the multitude in the pastime they find 
so delightful. 

There are few sailing yachts in commission 
nowaday, but there are several yacht clubs, 
and the time may come when the sport will be 
properly revived and encouraged. The Chi- 
cago Yacht Club, whose office is at 655 Rookery 
building, has many members. Its officers are 
A. T. Fisher, commodore; Harry Duvall, sec- 
retary; J. W. S. Brawley, treasurer. The 
President of the Countess Yacht Club is Mr. 
Sidney W. Woodbury, and the treasurer, 
E. W. Herrick. The Countess Yacht Club de- 



179 

rives its title from the somewhat celebrated 
craft of that name. The Countess is a magi- 
nificent sloop, and the club is composed of the 
gentlemen who own her and take their enjoy- 
ment on board of her. The Countess was built 
in Canada and named originally the Countess 
of Dufferin, in honor of the wife of the then 
Governor-General of the Dominion, the Earl 
of Dufferin. She was built to contest for the 
American cup but did not succeed. The name 
was changed to the Countess when she was 
brought to Chicago. The Countess may be 
seen any bright summer day gallantly riding 
the waters of the bay opposite Lake Front 
Park. It is an enthusing sight to see her start- 
ing bravely out into the lake with all her can- 
vas set, heeling gracefully on in deference to the 
breeze. Dozens of smaller but none the less 
ambitious craft swarm about her and endeavor to 
keep the pace, their snow-white sails showing 
prettily against the blue sky. But the Coun- 
tessxs too speedy for them and out-fools them 
all. 

Perhaps the most active yachting organiza- 
tion in Chicago is the Lincoln Park Yacht Club, 
organized two years ago. Its list of officers is 
as follows: Commodore, James J. Wilson; 
vice commodore, S. S. Johnson; rear-commo- 
dore, A. E. Back; treasurer, H. A. Pans; sec- 
retary, C. O. Andrews. This club posseses an 



i8o 



advantage inasmuch as the vessels of its mem- 
bers find a safe haven and anchorage in the new 
slip, protected by a break-water, at Lincoln 
Park, which has been constructed especially for 
regattas. From ten to fifteen 3achts find shel- 
ter here, and some splendid yacht races may 
be witnessed during the summer over what is 
termed the Lincoln Park course, extending 
some five miles out into the lake. The race 
is always made outward and return, and the 
spectacle is beautiful to witness when half a doz- 
en of the fleet craft are speeding over the waves 
in the contest for supremacy. The yacht races 
during the summer naturally heighten the at- 
traction of this most popular of all the parks. 
There are many boat clubs. The Catlin 
Boat Club has a clubhouse at the foot of Pear- 
son street, on the North side. The Ogden Boat 
Club's house is at the foot of Superior street, 
half a mile furthur south. The Farragut Boat 
Club is the most pretentious of all, however, 
possessing as it does, in addition to its boat- 
house at the foot of Thirty-third street, a hand- 
some clubhouse on Lake avenue, just below 
Thirty-first street, which is the scene of many 
noteworthy social events. The clubhouse con- 
tains, in addition to its comfortable parlors 
and reception rooms, a bowling alley, pool- 
room and lavatories, while the upper story is 



i8i 



devoted to a dancinj;^ hall and theatre with a 
seating capacity of 400. 

So much for the private aquatic organiza- 
tions. While a visitor with influential friends 
finds no difficulty in securing an introduction 
to any of them, and a consequent temporary 
share in their privileges, they are, of course, 
more or less exclusive, and the reader's interest 
will naturally go to such provisions as are made 
for the enjoyment and entertainment of the 
stranger and the unknown. 

Down on the Lake Front, just across the Illi- 
nois Central tracks, will be found from ten to 
fifteen pretty yachts, owned by their captains, 
who will take a party out for an hour's sail at 
the rate of 25 cents per hour. In case there are 
only two of you the charge will be a dollar, the 
owners never moving out for less than that sum. 
These crafts are sound and seaworthy and in 
the charge of old sailors whose skill and nerve 
are to be trusted and relied upon in any sort of 
weather. It is a most delightful manner of 
spending an hour. When the heat in the city 
is stifling and not a breath of air is stirring, 
try the experiment of a spin over the blue 
waters and see how refreshing is the breeze 
that is invariably blowing briskly over on the 
Michigan shore. There is not even time to get 
sea-sick, no matter how violent the motion of the 



l82 

staunch little vessel, yet if any of the passen- 
gers should feel squeamish the captain is 
only too ready to put about and return home. 
If the pleasure-seeker prefers steam to can- 
vas as a motive power he can take his choice 
between a trip to the government pier or water- 
works crib, and a longer sail to Jackson or Lin- 
coln Park. The fare to the pier and back is 
ten cents; the round trip to and from the crib 
or either of the parks is 25 cents. There are 
several more pretentious vessels that go out at 
night for moonlight excursions on the lake. 
They start both from the Lake Front and from 
the river, in the latter case generally at the 
Clark street bridge. They always secure a 
large patronage and there is generally a good 
time enjoyed by those who make up such ex- 
cursions. The decks are crowded with pretty 
girls and their escorts, it somehow generally 
happening that the girls outnumber the boys, 
and, as a dance is always begun the minute 
the vessel is well out in the lake, the pair of 
strangers who have resolved to try this manner 
of spending the evening are apt to find their 
company very much in request. The advent 
of another year will probably see a large in- 
crease in the number of excursion steamers, and 
during the Fair the lake will doubtless be 



183 



drawn upon to its fullest extent as a source of 
pleasure for the visiting throng. 

All the foregoing applies to short trips. 

There are steamship lines whose vessels make 

^^^■"•%"^" ' very extended journeys. 

"'^^^^^^^^^-''" ' It not infrequently 

happens that visitors 
take advantage of the ex- 




cellent opportunities afforded and make one or 
two voyages that they remember with pleasure 
long after their return to their homes in the 
country. The Graham & Morton Transporta- 
tion Company's steamers leave from the dock 
at the foot of Wabash avenue for St. Joseph 
and Benton harbor daily, at 9:30 in the morn- 
ing and II o'clock at night, arriving at St. Jo- 
seph at 1 130 p. M. and 3 in the morning. On 



i84 

Sunday one trip is made, leaving at lo A. M. 
and arriving at 2 o'clock. The fare for a single 
trip is 1 1 but the round trip can be made for 
that price if the passengers return the same 
day. The fine side-wheel steamer City of 
Chicago, one of the handsomest on the lakes, 
is the star of this line. The Sunday excursion 
on this ship costs ^1.50. The voyage is direct- 
ly across the lake, about 40 miles, and is made 
on schedule time in good weather; adverse 
winds and waves are apt to cause a little delay. 
The Goodrich line, however, is the leading 
line of lake steamers as well as the oldest. 
The company's dock is at the foot of Michigan 
avenue. The steamers ply between Chicago 
and all ports on Lake Michigan, such as Ra- 
cine, Milwaukee, Sturgeon Bay, Menominee, 
Grand Haven, Muskegon, Green Bay and Man- 
istique. The trip to Muskegon, which takes 
one night, is especially enjoyable and many 
people indulge in it for the purpose of seeing 
the greatest lumber town in the world, which 
distinction Muskegon enjoys; the night trip to 
Milwaukee is also a favorite, especially in hot 
weather. Milwaukee, as is ever known, is a 
sort of Gretna Green for youthful and impression- 
able Chicago couples, who are in the habit of 
eloping to that happy haven, getting safe- 
ly married and then returning on the next boat 



i85 

to seek the parental forgiveness which is almost 
invariably bestowed if they wait long enough. 
The Saturday night boat rarely starts in the 
summer months without at least one such elop- 
ing couple on board. 

Some of the Goodrich line vessels will bear 
comparison with the finest ocean steamers. 
The dimensions of the Virginia, for instance, 
are as follows: 278 feet over all, 260 feet keel, 
38 feet beam and 25 feet deep. The hull is di- 
vided into six water-tight compartments, so 
constructed that if the vessel were cut squarely in 
two halves it would float. The interior decora- 
tions and equipments are of the most magni- 
ficent description. No one should fail to at 
least inspect this, by all odds the finest vessel 
that floats the lakes. Other fine vessels of this 
line are the Indiana, City of Racine and 
Menominee. 

The steamers of the Lake Michigan & Lake 
Superior Transportation Company, which are all 
elegantly appointed, carry passengers between 
Chicago and Dulutli, at the head of .Lake Sup- 
erior. These staunch steamers leave Chicago 
Wednesday and Saturday evenings, leaving 
the dock at Rush street bridge at 8 130, and call at 
Mackinac, Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette, and all 
Lake Superior ports. The passenger traffic on 
this line during the summer is enormous and in- 



i86 

creases constantly with the fame of the north- 
ern summer resorts, which are yearly growing 
more popular. 

The pleasure-seeker is hardly likely to be 
interested in the commercial side of the Chi- 
cago lake marine. The story of its magnitude, 
however, may be told in one brief paragraph: 

The daily arrivals and clearances at Chicago 
exceed those of New York by fifty per cent, being 
nearly as numerous as those of Baltimore, Bos- 
ton and New York combined. Figures talk, 
and these are the figures that Chicago modestly 
presents to the observation of the wondering 
stranger. 



CHAPTER XXII. 




THE RESTAURANTS OF CHICAGO. 

IN response to the 
question, ''Where shall 
we eat? "one might say: 
''You pay your money 
and you take your 
choice." There are 
more than six hundred 
restaurants in Chicago 
and you will admit that 
the declaration is not 
imperfect. That is to 
say, there are over six 
hundred now, but at the present ratio of increase 
there will doubtless be a thousand or more 
a year hence. It eventually follows that these 
restaurants are of all grades. There are places 
where you can get a meal for ten cents; others 
where no single dish costs less than 50 cents 
to 1 1. 00. All the leading hotels — the Richelieu, 
Auditorium, Victoria, Wellington, and Palmer, 
as well as the family hotels, like the Metropole 
and Virginia, have restaurants or cafes (that is 
the fashionable term) attached, where the ser- 
vice is very elegant and the price pitched in a 
corresponding altitude. Cheap restaurants are 



i88 

to be found in every quarter of the city. There 
is scarcely a block without one, but the down- 
town trade is monopolized by a few large and 
well established institutions that serve all sorts 
of meals at moderate prices. 

Kinsley's, No. 105 Adams street, is a place 
which caters to all classes. On the ground 
floor is a lunch-room or restaurant in which a 
good meal may be purchased for twenty-five to 
fifty cents. On the next story are two fine 
cafes, one for the exclusive use of gentlemen 
and the other for ladies, or ladies with escorts, 
in which the service and prices are on the same 
grade as the hotel cafes. Other floors are de- 
voted to private dining-rooms of all sizes. 
There is also a banquet and ball-room, which is 
at the service of large parties. 

Other large restaurants, where good, plain 
food only is served at moderate prices, are 
Thomson's, 143 and 145 Dearborn street; Sara- 
toga, 155 and 157 the same street; Central, on 
Randolph street near State, and Tacoma, 
northwest corner Madison and La Salle streets. 
The oyster houses of Chicago form a special 
feature in themselves. There are four of this 
class. The Boston Oyster House, Clark and 
Madison streets; Chicago Oyster House, Madi- 
son street between Clark and La Salle; the 
Lakeside, Clark and Adams; Rector's, Clark 



1 89 

and Monroe. Three of these serve all kinds of 
meats when desired, as well as fish of every va- 
riety, but Rector's is an oyster house pure and 
simple, where only fish and game are served. 
Rector's is a favorite resort after the theatre. 
From eleven o'clock to midnight it is crowded 
with people of all classes, with a very strong 
sprinkling of the sporting and professional ele- 
ment. There are pretty actresses galore, some 
of whom are attended by their hard-working 
husbands who have places in the same company 
with them; others by young men of m^ans who 
enjoy the prestige of having been acquainted in 
that particular sort of social worldliness. It is 
a gay scene in any event and the fun is often 
kept up until long after midnight. 

There are at least three places that make a 
specialty of catering to patrons who desire the 
seclusion of private dining-rooms. These are 
Lassagne's, on South Clark street, opposite the 
court house; Weber's, and the Vendome, State 
street, between Madison and Monroe. Lassa- 
gne's, as the name would indicate, is kept by a 
Frenchman and the cooking and service are es- 
sentially French. The service at Weber's 
and the Vendome is similar in almost everv res- 
pect. The prices charged at these places are 
not at all exorbant, and a private dining-room 
is always in great demand with affectionate 



couples who desire a tempting tete-a-tete meal 
that would not be nearly so enjoyable if it lacked 
the charm of privacy and the opportunities for 
the display of sentiment which such privacy 
permits. These dining-rooms are small apart- 
ments, neatly partitioned off and graded in 
sizes to suit parties of from two to twenty. 
That these are liberally patronized may be in- 
ferred from the merry bursts of laughter that 
are occasionally heard pealing through the car- 
peted halls as the busy waiters go scurrying 
to and fro with their piles of well filled dishes. 
It has been said that it is from the sale of wines 
that the proprietors are enabled to maintain 
these private-dining-rooms, consequently it is 
the proper caper to wash down the very reason- 
ably priced dinner with a bottle or so of one's 
favorite style of grape juice if the person can 
afiford it, and if you can't, why, you have no busi- 
ness there. 

The table d' hote has become quite an insti- 
tution in Chicago within the past two or three 
years. It is presumed that every reader of this 
book knows what the term signifies, but it will 
do no harm to explain it. The term is a French 
one, signifying " the hotel table." The table d' 
hote, then, is a course dinner, given at a fixed 
price, upon payment of which the patron is en- 
titled, if he wishes for it, to a taste of every 



191 



dish mentioned on the printed bill of fare. To 
so grade the courses of a big dinner as to pam- 
per the appetite and leave, with the con- 
sumption of each course, a desire for the ap- 
pearance of the next, is a splendid art, second 
to none in the opinion of some people, and at 
least one table d' hole in Chicago comes very 
close to perfection. This is the table (T hote 
inaugurated by Mr. Leland and since main- 
tained by the purchasers of the hotel of that 

name. The price of 
this dinner is |i.oo, and 
in addition to the 
twelve courses of eat- 
ables each person is 




entitled to a bottle of excellent red or white wine. 
An orchestra stationed somewhere discourses 
sweet music during the meal, which is served 
from 5:30 to 8:00 p. M. A very similar table d' 



192 

hote, but without wine, is served at the Palmer 
House at the same price. A most excellent 
dinner may be had at a little French restaurant 
on Monroe street, one door west of the Colum 
bia theatre, for seventy-five cents. 

In one respect the table d' hole is a most ex- 
cellent arrangement. Considering the lavish - 
ness of the spread a dollar is a very reasonable 
price; the same dinner could not be purchased 
in a first-class restaurant a la carte for less than 
five or six dollars, if not more. If a party of 
four or six people want to enjoy a jolly dinner 
at a reasonable price, amid pleasant surround- 
ings, they should patronize the table d' hole, 
always supposing they have plenty of time. 
The dinner takes an hour to serve comfortably. 
Those who are rushed for time should go else- 
where. 

A chapter on restaurants would be incom- 
plete without a reference to the innumerable 
boarding-houses of Chicago. For a person who 
contemplates a more or less extended stay a 
boarding-house is perhaps the best place to go. 
It is certainly much more economical than liv- 
ing at a first-class hotel. Excellent accommo- 
dations in boarding-houses in the best parts of 
the residence districts may be secured at rates 
varying from $4 to 1 1 o per week, room and board. 
No need to describe the location of boarding- 



193 

houses. A glance at the advertising columns 
of the daily newspapers will show you a quick 
route to hundreds of such. If it is not desired 
to go to the trouble of selecting ar boading 
place for yourself call at any of the many agen- 
cies — all of which print cards in the ''Board 
Wanted" columns of the Sunday papers — and 
tell the people there exactly what you want. 
In nine cases out of ten they will send you to a 
place which will be found suitable. There is no 
charge for this service. The lisual way is to 
charge the applicant a dollar, which sum is de- 
ducted from the bill at the estabhshment he 
may select from the list furnished by the agency. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE HAYMARKET MONUMENT. 

THE statue which 
stands in the Hay- 
market, the broad 
square on Randolph 
Street extending from 
Desplaines to Hal- 
sted, commemorates 
an event only sec- 
'h ond in importance in 
Chicago's history to 
the great fire of 1871. 
It stands as a mark of 
that awful night, May 
4, 1886, when the 
mouthines of the anarchists culminated in the 
hurling of a bomb — the only bomb ever thrown 
in America — into a squad of police, of whom seven 
were killed and sixty-six laid low with awful 
wounds. 

While looking at this monument, the figure of a 
policeman in heroic size, the visitor may if he 
chooses, try to imagine that scene, when Des- 
plaines Street bore the appearance of a battlefield, 
and the station house near by, whither the dead and 




195 

wounded were carried, that of a hospital. Think 
over it all, as you gaze at the monument, and try 
to realize the importance of the bloody epoch 
which it typifies. 

May day of that year had been fixed upon as the 
proper time to inaugurate the eight hour move- 
ment. Prior to that date the anarchists had 
become thoroughly organized. They held meet- 
ings every Sunday afternoon on the Lake Front, 
when their leaders made fiery speeches, advocat- 
ing the murder of capitalists and the destruction of 
property. On the first of May, strike after strike 
occurred in quick succession. Within two days 
there were thousands of unemployed workmen in 
the streets; the anarchist leaders did all they could 
to foster a spirit of mischief and incite the strikers 
to deeds of violence. The Haymarket riot itself 
originated in the great strike at the McCormick 
Reaper works, which transpired February 11, the 
strikers' places being filled by non-union men. Po- 
lice were put on guard at the works, and such 
anarchist leaders as August Spies, Albert Parsons, 
Henry Fielden, and Michael Schwab improved the 
opportunity to further excite disturbance and dis- 
order and to increase the hatred of the mob for 
the police. On the evening of April 28, 1885, the 
new Board of Trade building was opened and a 
swarm of anarchists, both men and women, marched 
to the building, waving red flags and breathing 



196 

death and destruction to the '* aristocrats," as they 
called them. It was a strange scene. Inside the 
glittering building there were fair women, in daz- 
zling toilets and decked with gems, who shuddered 
as they gazed through the windows at the menac- 
ing populace without — the same class of mis- 
guided beings who turned Paris into a Hell during 
the revolution. The police drove the mob away. 
The raving hordes dispersed, uttering curses and 
threats as they went. This incident is related 
merely to show the spirit which prevailed among 
the anarchists prior to the deadly deed of the follow- 
ing year. 

It was Monday, May 3, when the riot at Mc- 
Cormick's occurred. As the workmen left the 
building they were attacked by a great army of men 
and women. The police were called and a battle, or 
rather a series of battles, resulted, in which knives, 
sticks, stones and pistols were used. The police 
were fired upon repeatedly by the mob and 
promptly returned the fusillade. In all, six rioters 
were killed or injured, and several police officers 
were wounded. One officer narrowly escaped 
being lynched, and succeeded in breaking away 
from his captors as they were about to string him 
up to a lamp -post, to which a rope had already 
been attached. Immediately after this bloody 
affair the famous ''Revenge" circular was distrib- 
uted — an incendiary document written by August 



197 

Spies, and supposed to have been the principal 
cause of the bomb-throwing. As a historical doc- 
ument it is worth quoting : 

"Revenge! Workingmen, to arms! Your masters sent out 
their bloodhounds, the police. They killed six of your brothers at 
McCormick's this afternoon; they killed the poor wretches because 
they had the courage to disobey the supreme will of your bosses; they 
killed them because they dared to ask for the shortening of the hours 
of toil; they killed them to show you, free American citizens, that 
you must be satisfied and contented with whatever your bosses con- 
descend to allow you or you will get killed. You have for years 
suffered unmeasurable iniquities; you have worked yourselves to death ; 
you have endured the pangs of want and hunger; your children have 
been sacrificed to the factory lords — in short, you have been miser- 
able and obedient slaves all these years. Why? To satisfy the in- 
satiable greed, to fill the coffers of your lazy, theiving masters. 
When you ask them now to lessen the burden they send their blood- 
hounds out to shoot you — kill you. If you are men, if you are the 
sons of your grandsires, who have shed their blood to free you, then 
you will rise in your might, Herculean, and destroy the hideous mon- 
ster that seeks to destroy you ! To arms ! We call you to arms ! 

Your Brothers." 

Events followed fast upon the issue of this 
circular. A number of minor conflicts occurred, 
and then the Arbeiter Zeituiig, of which Spies was 
editor, called the Haymarket meeting in the follow- 
ing notice : 

"ATTENTION, WORKINGMEN! Great mass meeting to- 
night, at 7:30 o'clock, at the Haymarket, Randolph street, between 
Desplaines and Halsted. Good speakers will be present to denounce 
the latest atrocious acts of the police — the shooting of your fellow 
workmen yesterday afternoon. 

The Executive Committee.'' 



198 



The hour came. The Hay- 
market Square and Des- 
plaines Street were crowded. 
From the top of a wagon, 
Parsons, Schwab and Spies 
made inflammatory 
speeches. Fielden was 
in the midst of his, when 
platoon of police, over 
a hundred in num- 
ber appeared, 
headed by Captain 
Ward and Inspec- 
tor Bonfield. Ward 
commanded the 
people to disperse, and at that instant the bomb 
was thrown. It sputtered through the air like a 
comet and fell with an awful roar in the ranks of 
the police, exploding with deadly effect. Without 
wavering an instant, the surviving officers poured 
a volley of pistol shots into the mob. For several 
minutes the battle raged. When it was over the 
ground was littered with the dead and dying. 
The wounded were taken to the Desplaines Street 
station. , 

The ringleaders were arrested the following day. 
Schnaubelt, the man who threw the bomb was ar- 
rested but released by some mistake and disap- 




199 

peared as completely as if the earth had swallowed 
him. 

Spies, Engel, Parson, Fielden, Fischer, Schwab, 
Lingg and Neebe were tried for conspiracy to 
murder. The trial was the most sensational in 
Chicago's history, and lasted thirty-six days. 
Neebe was sent to the penitentiary; all the others 
were sentenced to death. All the men made long 
speeches in court, protesting against the sentence, 
but its justice was affirmed by the Supreme Courts 
of Illinois and of the United States. The execu- 
tion was fixed for November 11, 1887. A peti- 
tion asking for clemency was sent to Richard J. 
Oglesby, then Governor of the State. The sen- 
tences of Fielden and Schwab were commuted to 
life-imprisonment. The day before that set for the 
execution, Lingg, who was the most ferocious an- 
archist of all, committed suicide in a horrible man- 
ner. He placed a fulminating cartridge in his 
mouth, cigar-fashion, lighted the fuse and calmly 
waited until the thing exploded and blew off his 
head. The four others. Spies, Parson, Engel and 
Fischer, was executed a few minutes before noon 
the following day. 

The writer of these lines saw these men die, 
being seated just below the scaffold, with a complete 
view of the proceeding. The assertion may be 
ventured, that every witness of that awful event 
was impressed by the bravery with which the 



200 

doomed four met their fate. They had lived mis- 
guided lives and died ignominious deaths, but there 
was not a coward among them. When they per- 
ished the anarchists of Chicago ceased to exist as 
a political power. Their party, which suffered a 
staggering blow by reason of the event of the 
proceding year, was obliterated, effaced by the 
tragedy on the scaffold which vindicated the right- 
eous power of law and order. The anarchists of 
Europe no longer look to this country as a pleas- 
ant or profitable ground for the dissemination of 
their doctrines. 

When you gaze upon the Haymarket monu- 
ment you may ponder on these things. That simple 
figure typifies the rise and fall of anarchism in 
Chicago — one of the most thrilling periods in all 
its history. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



CHEYENNE. 



THIS is an excellent 
neighborhood to let alone, 
however curious you may be. 
The small section of city to 
which the nickname of 
''Cheyenne" has been given 
comprises the district bounded 
by Harrison Street on the 
north, Twelfth Street on the 
south, Dearborn Street on the 
east and Fifth Avenue on the 
west. In this district reside 
more dangerous characters 
than there are in any other portion of the city. It 
might almost be called a negro colony, so many 
colored people reside in it; but there are also large 
numbers of foreigners — the scum of the laro-e 
cities of Europe — who are fruit -peddlers and or- 
gan-grinders by day and by night — heaven only 
knows what! They herd together like animals, 
twenty families sometimes finding lodging in one 
tenement. It is a historical fact that the police once 
literally ''cleaned out" a house in which sixty-one 
Italians were living. The sixty-one comprised 




202 



several families, as many as a score of persons 
sleeping in one room. 

So desperate are many of '' Cheyenne's " known 
characters that no policeman who patrols a beat in 
that locality is permitted to do so alone. The of- 
ficers move about in squads, armed to the teeth, 
for they never know when a gang of habitual 
criminals, out on a drunken frolic, may not swoop 
down upon them and evidence their traditional 
hatred for law and order by inaugurating an at- 
tack upon the officers with clubs, pistols and 
knives. When an arrest is contemplated in 
" Cheyenne," a dozen armed officers go to the objec- 
tive point in a patrol-wagon, prepared for any sort 
of an encounter ; for it is a well-known fact that every 
prominent Cheyenneite has an army of followers 
who regard it as a point of honor to resist his ar- 
rest as bitterly as possible. The degree of im- 
portance enjoyed by the gentleman whose arrest 
is contemplated serves as a guide to the police au- 
thorities ; if he is in any sense a leader, twenty stal- 
wart men are none too few to be entrusted with 
the mission. 

It is with no idea of speaking disparagingly of 
the fair sex that one remarks on the presence in 
''Cheyenne" of several dusky female characters 
of whom the police have a wholesome dread. Most 
officers would rather engage in a grapple with 
half a dozen male desperados than with one of 



203 



those formidable negresses. They are Amazonian 
in physique and being thorougly abandoned, are 




ready for any hideous devilment which may oi 
may not turn up. ''Big Mag," the wickedest 
and most notorious character in Cheyenne was re- 
cently sentenced to five years at Jollet, and will 
therefore be safely caged during the Fair. She 
has raised riots without number in ''Cheyenne" In 
her time. She is nearly six feet in height, as 
straight as an arrow and of such marvelous 
strength that no officer on the force would under- 
take to arrest her single-handed. She had a record 



204 

with the pistol, too, and there was easier breathing 
at the Harrison Street Station when she went 
''over the road" for a comfortable five years. 

As a general thing, there is not much noise or 
tumult in *' Cheyenne " after nightfall. But its 
very quietude is its most deceptive feature. Woe 
to the guileless countryman who, having been cel- 
ebrating his visit to the city not wisely but too 
well, ignorantly strolls into the dangerous canton. 
There are dark forms lurking in the alley-ways 
and doors, eager for prey. They carry razors as 
well as pistols, and will stop at nothing when 
booty looms in sight. But there are other times, 
generally on holidays when some electrical spark 
touches " Cheyenne," and then the whole settle- 
ment goes, as it were, on a roaring tear. At such 
times the police are kept busy. There was one 
occasion — 'twas last Thanksgiving Day, if one re- 
members aright, when the inhabitants of ''Chey- 
enne," male and female, turned out for a series of 
athletic contests. The open streets served as a 
race-course, and the dusky Amazons were the 
candidates for honors ; the men preferring to stand 
and lay wagers on their prowess. A herculean 
negro lined the "mares" up for the start and sent 
them away to the crack of a pistol— no matter 
where the bullets went ; such trifles are not con- 
sidered in "Cheyenne," — the Amazons picking up 
their skirts and tearing down the "track" to the 



205 

cheers of their applauding friends who lined the 
sidewalks. Between races the saloons were pat- 
ronized and the termination of the sport may be 
imagined. So long as the Cheyenneites confined 
themselves to mere racing, the police did not inter- 
fere, but when the bad whisky got in its work to 
such an extent that fights occurred at the conclu- 
sion of every race, an army of blue-coats swooped 
down and made wholesale arrests. The scene 
which followed will never be forgotten. It is a 
wonder that any policeman who figured in the raid 
escaped alive. The mob of desperate blacks 
surged round the officers trying to rescue the 
prisoners who had been gathered in at the first 
rush. Pistols were drawn and many shots fired. 
Nobody was killed, but many heads were cracked. 
The affair is talked of to this day in Cheyenne and 
no police officer who figured in it has any desire 
for a repetition of the experience. 

It is just as well perhaps that so much of the 
dangerous element of the city should be grouped 
or colonized in this one spot ; as the authorities 
know exactly where to look for it and can al- 
ways be prepared to check any lawless demon- 
stration that may emanate from it. If this locality 
is visited at all, it should be in broad daylight and 
in good company. "Cheyenne" might fitly be 
termed the Whitechapel of Chicago. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



CANDIES AND FLOWERS. 




COMMUNITY'S 
prosperity is always 
to be gauged by the 
amount of money it 
is able to spend on 
luxuries. And if 
candies and flowers 
are to be classed as 
luxuries Chicago 
must be very pros- 
perous < indeed, for 
the city supports a 
large number o f 
large stores that are devoted to the sale of one 
or both of these articles. 

A high-class florist in these days simply coins 
money. He ought to do so, with Jacqueminot 
and La France roses often at $12 a dozen. 
There are several Chicago florists who are in a 
fair way to become millionaires. The immedi- 
ate profits of the candy business are not quite 
so large, perhaps, but there is less risk. Roses 
fade in a day, and if they are not bought are a 
dead loss. The sweet stuff on which the young 



207 

ladies of the period dote lasts a little longer and 
is disposed of more readily. Perhaps the best 
customer of the florist and the candy man 
alike is the susceptible youth who wishes to 
make the fair object of his adoration think her 
best of him, and for that reason bestows gifts of 
flowers and candy upon her as long as he seems 
to entertain the ghost of a chance of getting 
any sort of return for his money. It is the 
proper caper, if you are an engaged man, to 
send your fiancee flowers and candy every day. 
This is where the profits of the purveyor of these 
luxuries come in, for, when a marriageable 
young man gets what is known as **the mitten,'' 
it stands to reason that he is very soon going to 
find somebody else upon whom to lavish the 
same gifts so fruitlessly bestowed upon the 
cruel one. Of course when he actually does 
marry, the florists and candy men may mark 
him off their books, for who is so foolish as to 
suppose a man is going to buy flowers and candy 
for his own wife? But, while the flower and 
candy men are apt to deplore marriage on this 
account, they find comfort in knowing that for 
every marriage that is taking place there are 
twenty young men arriving at a marriageable 
age and thereby taking the place of the rescued 
victim. 

To mention all the florists of Chicago would 



208 

take up too much space. There are over two hun- 
dred of them. It is the fashionable thing now- 
adays to join the two businesses, having 
flowers for sale on one side of the shop and 
candy on the other. This is the case with the 
Spencer store in\he new Masonic Temple build- 
ing, on State street, at the corner of Randolph. 
The windows of this store are adorned with rare 
palms and other handsome plants that prepare 
one for the beauties to be found within. It is a 
splendid stand for a store of this character and 
commands a large patronage. An establish- 
ment of a very similar character, and quite as 
imposing, is the store of P. J. Houswirth (suc- 
cessor to Charles Reissig), in the Auditorium 
building. It is a convenient place to rush into 
during an operatic performance in the Audi- 
torium and purchase a $1000 bouquet to fling to 
a favorite singer. Perhaps the best-known 
florist in Chicago is Michael H. Gallagher, whose, 
store is located in the Palmer house block, 163 
Wabash, and whose greenhouses are at 5649 
Washington avenue. Mr Gallagher's trade 
is very large. "The superb floral decorations 
were by Gallagher," is a familiar phrase in the 
newspaper reports of weddings, receptions and 
kindred gala events. Mr. Gallagher is said to 
have made a large fortune at the business. 
Among the other prominent down-town florists 
may be mentioned the following: 



2og 

Joseph Craig, 84 State street; Charles Fisk, 
149 State; Joseph Curran, 242 Wabash avenue; 
Walter Krintberg, 231 Wabash avenue; J. C. 
Vaughan, 88 State street (with a branch at 148 
West Washington). 

Coming to the consideration of candy, con- 
fectionery, and fine fruits, the name of Charles 
Gunther first challenges attention. The Gun- 
ther store, 212 State street, is without doubt 
one of the sights of the city, containing, as it 
does, in addition to the regular stock-in-trade, 
the Gunther museum, which the proprietor has 
spent the best years of his life in collecting. 
The museum embraces curios of all sorts and 
some of them are of great value. The entire col- 
lection is worth a fabulous amount and there 
is a well-defined impression abroad that the 
owner intends to give it to the city some day. 

The furnishings of the Gunther store are 
magnificent. Tall mirrors reflect the custom- 
er's shape at every step. The rear part of two 
floors is dotted with tables, at which iced drinks, 
ice cream, and light luncheons are served. 
Whether with a view of purchase or not, the 
store w^ill well repay a visit. Gunther's candy 
is advertised the country over, and the concern 
enjoys an enormous out-of-town trade. 

The new Berry candy store, at the north-east 
corner of State and Adams streets, challenges 



210 



Gunther's for brilliancy. The walls and ceilings 
are lined throughout with mirrors, set at all 
angles, and the effect at night when all the 
electric lamps are in full blaze is one of 
dazzling brillancy. The usual soda water 
fountain and ice cream branch is also to be 
found here. The store is the head-quarters of 
John Berry, the proprietor, who, however, has 
branches at 155 East Madison, and 167, 241, 
581 West Madison streets. The factory is on 
Washington boulevard, corner of Sangamon 
street. 

Huyler's, 161 State street, is a branch of the 
famous New York house of that name and en- 
joys a large patronage. It is a favorite resort for 
ladies who, tired out with shopping journeys, 
stand in need of a little refreshment. Plow's, in 
the new McVicker's theatre building, is another 
popular store. On matinee days especially it 
is crowded with purchasers. Boles & Kehoe, 
in Central Music Hall, claim that their candy is 
equal to the best, and to judge by the size of 
their trade the claim is well founded. The 
Kranz store, on the opposite side of the street, 
is particularly gorgeous in its furnishings, and 
its refreshment tables, as well as its counters, 
are always crowded. 

There are many others that might be men- 



211 



tioned. The candy purveyors of Chicago num- 
ber over a thousand, and no one who is in need 
of a package of the toothsome stufi need go 
away disappointed. 




CHAPTER XXVI. 



SUMMER NIGHT CONCERTS. 



USIC hath charms to soothe the 
savage breast," said Shakespeare, 
and whether it does so or not it 
soothes the ruffled feelings of 
the thousands who attend the 
summer night concerts at the 
new First regiment armory on 
Michio[an avenue near Sixteenth street. For 
the last ten years the summer night concerts in 
this city have been given under the direction 
of Theodore Thomas in the old exposition 
building, but with the demolition of that time- 
honored structure Thomas has retired from the 
summer musical arena, leaving his baton to be 
wielded by Max Bendix, who for several sea- 
sons played the first violin in the Thomas or- 
chestra. The great exposition building, dirty 
and weather-beaten as it was, had charms for 
the thousands who congregated there. It is 
true that the occasional weird and unearthly 
ghriek of a locomotive on the Lake Front in- 
terfered sadly with the witching harmonies of 
Schumann or Gounod and even drowned, at 
times, the ponderous volume of Wagnerian out- 



213 

bursts. But it was delightfully cool and re- 
freshing to sit among the potted shrubs with 
which the great hall was dotted and drink in the 
seductive strains simultaneously with one's 
Seipp or Bass and watch the never-ceasing pro- 
cession of comely youths and airily clad maidens 
who passed to and fro. 

The atmosphere surrounding the armory 
concerts this year is perhaps rather less demo- 
cratic than that of the vanished exposition 
building, but the general effect is the same. 
The massiveness of the structure as viewed 
without hightens the pleasant impression re- 
ceived on stepping within. The polished floor is 
covered for the most part with long rows of 
neat chairs, but at each side of the big hall is a 
row of boxed fir-trees behind which are scattered 
the miniature tables at which light refresh- 
ments are served. Overhead are flags and 
bunting, while light is supplied by rows of big 
electric lamps depending from slender wires. 
Placed in niches at intervals along the walls are 
electric fans, the incessant whirling of which 
supplies a pleasant draught, almost a breeze, is 
fact, in the sultriest of weather. 

As the hour arrives for the commencement of 
the concert the hall fills up. The stream of 
amusement-seekers contains all qualities of peo- 
ple, from the society belles of the adjacent ave- 



21. 



nues and their escorts to the musically-inclined 
shop-girl from the West side, and the plump 
capitalist to the thrifty book-keeper or ribbon ^ 
salesman. Music is the ostensible attraction 
for all, but it is quite as much to chat with their 
friends in quiet nooks and to see what the other 
girls are wearing that the prettily attired belles 
have made their appearance. And some of the 
costumes are veritable dreams. The warmth 
of the summer season affords every opportun- 
ity for the display of fetching feminine apparel, 
and Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed 
like some of the dames who patronize the sum- 
mer night concerts. 

The music itself is of the very best quality. 
Certain nights are devoted to certain music. 
There are two "request" nights, when the pro- 
grams are made up from the numbers patrons 
have asked Director Bendix to play. There are 
"popular" nights, when the classical idea is 
pushed into the background for the nonce and 
the simplest of compositions, the comprehen- 
sion of which does not involve the knitting of 
one's brows and the tearing out of one's hair by 
the roots, played. There are two "ball-room" 
nights, when the best style of dance music is 
played. Thus all tastes are catered to and 
all desires satisfied. He who hankers for class- 
ical music may attend on such nights as classical 



215 

music is given and stay away on others. Others 
may consult their tastes in the same way. 

The general idea, that of supplying two hours 
of light entertainment each night through the 
hot weather season, is a most excellent one. 
The delicious strains discoursed by the fifty 
skilled musicians float .through the air, sending 
the listener into dreamland, their soothing effect 
enhanced, possibly, by the magic effect of a mug 
of golden Bass and the clouds blown from a 
fragrant weed. And ever and always there is 
the procession of beauty, daintily clad, that 
pampers the eye and gives rein to pleasant im- 
aginations. A garden of pretty girls in a set- 
ting of sweet sound — that is a good definition 
of the summer night concerts in Chicago. 

The concerts at the armory are given under 
the direction of Mr. Anson Temple, the same 
active gentleman who manages the Schiller 
theatre on Randolph street. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



rtfeii 




SPECIAL FEATURES OF CHICAGO. 



HERE are not a few sights worth 
seeing in Chicago a detailed 
description of which has been 
overlooked in the compilation 
of the preceding chapters. 
It may not be amiss to set 
down a few of them as briefly as may be and 
permit the reader to suit himself in the matter 
of paying them a visit of inspection or not. 

First in importance of these, perhaps, is the 
elevated railroad, running from Congress street 
to Thirty-ninth through the alley between State 
street and Wabash avenue. This is the South 
side line. The West Side, or Lake street "L" 
road, is in rapid course of construction but will 
not be finished for some time yet. Another 
road, along Ogden avenue, is also projected, 
and though it is reasonably certain to be built 
some day its completion is too far distant to 
merit extended notice. 

The South side ''L" road commenced opera- 
tions about the first of June of the present year. 
Its cars are well built, roomy and well ventilated 
and the run over the route to Thirty-ninth street 



217 

is made in about fourteen minutes. The road 
is to be extended south to the world's fair 
grounds in time for the opening of that great 
enterprise. Accustomed as Chicagoans have 
always been to the introduction of novelties the 
sight of the elevated railroad cars skimming 
along on a level with the second-story windows 
of the houses along the route excited curiosity 
and interest for several weeks, and it stands to 
reason that strangers, while taking their first 
ride in the elevated cars, will experience the 
same pleasant emotion. On the day that the 
road was formally opened to travel a number 
of prominent citizens were invited to take the 
trip, and from the accounts published at the 
time it is to be surmised that many interest- 
ing sights were seen along the journey. The 
families living in the rooms facing the alley were 
wholly unprepared for the passage of the train, 
and the clear and unobstructed view that could 
be had into their windows was productive of no 
end of merriment. Gentlemen whose pleasures 
of the night before had caused them to sleep 
late were surprised at their shaving mirrors, and 
ladies in every variety of demi-toilette were 
fain to dodge behind closet doors or hastily 
draw the curtains as the train loads of voyagers 
swept by. This sort of thing was encountered 
all along the line, and, while the occupants of 



2l8 

dwellings whose rear windows face the alley 
have learned to look for the trains by this time 
and guard against surprise, one is still occas- 
ionally caught napping. The elevated railway 
affords a rapid and pleasant mode of transit. 
Its trains run at all hours of the day and night. 
The fair is five cents for the entire journeyo 

Although it is not altogether a pleasant place 
to visit the county jail is inspected by parties 
of strangers who have a desire to glance at a 
dark side of life in a big city. There may or 
may not be a number of interesting prisoners in 
the jail at the time of your visit, but if not there 
are spots that will be shown you by the affable 
clerk, Ben Price, that are full of historical inter- 
est. ''Murderer's Row," the line of dingy cells 
in which candidates for the gallows are confined, 
generally has at least one occupant, and let us 
hope it will be empty when the reader sees it. 
The petty criminals, or those awaiting trial, are 
allowed to roam during the day in the cage and 
converse at stated intervals with their relatives 
or friends through the wire grating. In this 
place Louis Lingg, the anarchist, whose dread- 
ful suicide is referred to in another chapter, used 
to enjoy weekly interviews with his sweetheart, 
the young girl who is said to have given him the 
bomb with which he cheated the gallows by 
blowing off his head. In interviews of this sort 



219 

the prisoner stands on one side of the wire grat- 
ing, the visitor on the other. ''Lingg's girl," as 
the jail habitues used to call her, is said to have 
given her sweetheart the bomb by means of a 
kiss between the bars, passing the deadly little 
instrument from her mouth to his at the mo- 
ment their lips met. This is of course only a 
jail story, but as there is no other known man- 
ner in which the doomed man could have se- 
cured the bomb, it must be accepted in lieu of 
a better explanation. 

There is a "visiting" day at the jail each week, 
on which the friends of the prisoners are per- 
mitted to bring them delicacies. Old women 
with baskets in their arms trudge in and stand 
with tearful eyes as their hopeful sons or grand- 
sons greedily devour the contents. Many a 
pitiful sight is to be witnessed and the visitor 
may, perhaps, come away with a strengthened 
determination never to get into jail himself if 
he can help it. A call at the sheriff's ofhce is 
all that is necessary to secure a pass to the jail. 
It is situated on the north side on Michigan 
street, close to Clark. 

Some of the great buildings of Chicago, re- 
cently finished, are well worth inspection. One 
of the newest of these, the Temple, on La Salle 
street, is one of the sights of the city. Its cost 
was 1 1, 100,000, and the estimated income from 



220 



its rents is $250,000 a year. Just across the 
street, in the Home Insurance building, is the 
office of Armour & Co. There are three hun- 
dred well disciplined employes here, and they 
move about their business like clock-work. Mr. 
P. D. Armour, who is, perhaps, the richest man 
in the west, sits at an unpretentious desk 
among his ''boys,'' as he calls them, and spends 
q.s many hours here daily as any of them. 
Other great buildings within fifteen minutes 
walk of this one are the Rookery, Royal Insur- 
ance building, Republic Life building, Tacoma 
building, Phoenix building, Monadnock and 
Kearsage building, Manhattan building. Insur- 
ance Exchange building, Pontiac building. 

The gigantic Masonic Temple, at the north- 
east corner of State and Randolph street, de- 
serves special mention. It towers skyward un- 
til its roof is almost lost in the clouds. The 
idea of a grand Masonic temple in Chicago is 
twenty years old, and western Masons are re- 
sponsible for the erection of the superb struc- 
ture, which is an everlasting honor to themselves 
and a credit to the city. The building, which 
is without doubt one of the finest in the world, 
was completed this spring. The company erect- 
ing it is capitalized at #2,000,000, the price per 
share being |ioo. It has an interior court 
measuring ninety feet north and south by forty- 




MAURICE BARRYMORE. 

JESSIE BARTLETT DAVIS 



RICHARD MANSFIELD. 
HATTIE HARVEY. 



GEORGIA CAYVAN. 

ISABELLA IRVING. 

MARGARET MATHER. 



221 

five east and west, the walls of which are faced 
with marble of variegated colors, with a bronze 
staircase winding its devious way from the 
ground floor to the roof. There are fourteen 
passenger and two freight elevators, each of 
which makes a round trip every three minutes. 
An entire morning may be profitably passed in 
inspecting this mighty structure, the magnifi- 
cence of which, perhaps, cannot be duplicated 
on the continent, if indeed, in the entire uni- 
verse. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



A FEW FINAL WORDS. 




IN view of the 
fact that the re- 
mainder of this lit- 
tle work will be de- 
voted to the 
World's Fair — 
that mighty gath- 
ering of all na- 
tions in myriads of 
manifold variety, 
which will concen- 
trate the attention 
of the civilized 
earth upon Chicago — a few farewell hints to the 
stranger may not be out of place. 

An effort has been made to carefully describe 
the places of public entertainment, of all sorts 
and conditions, within the city's confines — in 
short, to furnish the visitor with a faithful and 
accurate ''pleasure-seeker's aguide" in fact as 
well as in name. How well that task has been 
accomplished is a matter resting with the opin- 
ion of the investigating reader. 



223 

In treating of resorts in attractions that are 
not of a kind to excite the admiration of peo- 
ple of tender sensibilities or strongly pro- 
nounced views, no effort has been made to des- 
cant on any impropriety or undesirability that 
may exist. The author, throughout this work, 
has been actuated by one motive — to tell facts 
and to tell them briefly. 

The multitudes from all nations who will 
make the great city by the lake their Mecca 
during the Fair will find here a hearty welcome 
and innumerable ways of spending their tim.e 
pleasantly. They will also find, probably, the 
same crowds of rascals, in all guises, that kept 
the police so busyJduring the Philadelphia and 
Paris exhibitions. Every man's good common 
sense must be his own guide, both in looking 
out for crooks and in seeking channels of legiti- 
mate diversion for his unoccupied hours. 

That is all — and it is enough. We pass on 
now to a consideration of the colossal project 
which is to make Chicago's name a household 
Word on the tongue of the world's enlightened 
nations. 



THE GREAT WORLD'S FAIR. 



1. THE PROJECT OF THE WORLd's COLUMBIAN EXPO- 
SITION. 

EVEN at the pres- 
ent time, nearly a 
year before the date 
set for the opening of 
the World's Colum- 
bian Exposition, the 
site upon which it is 
to be given forms the 
main object of inter- 
est to Chicagoans as 
well as visitors. This 
interest will, of course, 
be heightened as time 
passes on until it 
culminates in the at- 
tendance of visiting millions at the exhibit, which 
will stand unrivaled in the history of the nations. 
The World's Fair grounds are in Jackson Park, 
seven miles from the business center of the city, 
and any one who has noticed within the last year 
or so the great expanse of swampy, uneven ground 
would not recognize it to-day, so stupendous has 
been the transformation. The great expanse, half 




225 

wilderness, half prairie, which stretches away south- 
ward from the Park on the shores of the Lake, 
has been transformed into a miniature city, and the 
great buildings, several of them in a state border- 
ing on completion, tower high toward the skies, 
giving promise of the magnificent effect they will cre- 
ate when finished. If the millions of people whose 
eyes are directed in fancy upon this scene could 
view it in reality, they would feel satisfied that the 
promises made as to their entertainment will be 
much more than fulfilled. 

The shore line of the Lake approaching the 
World's Fair grounds is graced by a sweeping 
promenade of fiag-stones. Entering the grounds 
one Is greeted by a splendid vision of graceful 
lagoons, wooded islands and colossal buildings, 
gracefully ornamented and striking the beholder 
dumb with admiration. 

The history of this World's Fair project reads 
like a romance. All the great cities of the coun- 
try contested for the honor of holding the Fair 
within their gates. By dint of splendid work, 
admirably strengthened of course by the natural 
advantages it possessed, Chicago won the prize, 
and the manner in which the city's pledges have 
been carried out fully justifies the selection. The 
citizens of Chicago raised over five million dollars 
for a guaranty fund and pledged themselves to 
have a like amount in addition ready in case it 



226 

should be needed. That is one of the reasons 
why Chicago secured the Fair; it was a case 
where ** money talked." This Fair, which marks 
the four hundredth birthday of this great and 
mighty Nation will be thrown open next year to the 
delight of the civilized world. The following is 
the proclamation by which President Harrison in- 
vited the Nations to participate: 

Whereas, satisfactory proof has been presented to me that pro- 
vision has been made for adequate grounds and building for the uses 
of the World's Columbian Exposition, and that a sum not less than 
$10,000,000, to be used and expended for the purpose of said Expo- 
sition, has been provided in accordance with the conditions and re- 
quirements of Section 10 of an Act entitled "An Act to provide for 
celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of 
America by Christopher Columbus, by holding an International Ex- 
hibition of arts, industries, manufactures and products of the soil, 
mine and sea, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois," ap- 
proved April 25, 1890, 

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United 
States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by said Act, do hereby 
declare and proclaim that such International Exhibition will be 
opened on the first day of May, in the year 1893, in the city of Chi- 
cago, in the State of Illinois, and will not be closed before the last 
Thursday in October of the same year. 

And in the name of the Government, and of the people of the 
United States, I do hereby invite all the Nations of the earth to take 
part in the commemoration of an event that is preeminent in human 
history and of lasting interest to mankind by appointing representa- 
tives thereto, and sending such exhibits to the World's Columbian 
Exposition as will most fitly and fully illustrate their resources, their 
industries and their progress in civilization. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of De- 
cember, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and 



227 

Ninety, and the independance of the United States the One Hun- 
dred and Fifteenth. 

By the President, [Signed] Benj. Harrison. 

[Signed] James G. Blaine, Secretary of State. 

The World's Fair grounds embrace a total of 
1,037 acres and the two adjoining parks, Jackson 
and Washington, form a part of the magnificent 
park system of Chicago, which has been fully de- 
scribed in a previous chapter. It stand to reason 
that a project of this scope can only be under- 
taken under the supervision of a great host of of- 
ficers. The principal officers of the World's 
Columbial Exposition are : 

President, William T. Baker; Vice Presidents, Thomas B. Bryan, 
Potter Palmer; Secretary and Solicitor General, Benj. Butterworth; 
Assistant Secretary, J. H. Kingwill; Treasurer, Anthony F. Seeber- 
ger; Auditor, William K. Ackerman, Traffic Manager, E. E, Jaycox. 

BOARD OF reference AND CONTROL. 

William T. Baker, Potter Palmer, Ferd W. Peck, Fred S. Win- 
ston, Thomas B. Bryan, Lyman J. Gage, Edwin Walker, H. N. 
Higinbotham, 

executive committe. 

William T. Baker, President; Thomas B. Bryan, Vice President; 
Potter Palmer, Second Vice President. Ferd W. Peck, Robert A. 
Waller, William D. Kerfoot, Robert C. Clowry, Edwin Walker, H. 
N. Higinbotham, A. H. Revell, Lyman J.Gage, Charles H. Schwab, 
Martin A. Ryerson, Charles L. Hutchinson, John J. P. Odell, Mar- 
shall M. Kirkman. 

The officers of the National Commission are : 

President, Thomas W. Palmer, Michigan; Director-General, 
George R. Davis, Illinois; First Vice President, Thomas W. Waller, 
Connecticut; Second Vice President, M. H. De Young, California; 



228 

Third Vice President, Davidson B. Penn, Louisiana; Fourth Vice 
President, Gorton W. Allen, New York; Fifth Vice President, Alex- 
ander P. Andrews, North Carolina; Secretary, John T. Dickinson, 
Texas. 

The National Commission is composed of eight 
commissioners at large and two for every State 
and Territory in the Union, with two alternates. 
There are standing committees as follows : Execu- 
tive, Judicial, Tariffs and Transportation, Foreign 
Affairs, Fine Arts, Science, History, Literature 
and Education, Agriculture, Live Stock, Horti- 
culture and Floriculture, Finance, Auditing, Cere- 
monies, Classification, Manufacture, Commerce, 
Mines and Mining, Fisheries and Fish Culture, 
Electrical and Pneumatical Appliances, Forestry 
and Lumber, Machinery, World's Congresses, 
Printing, Grounds and Buildings, Federal Legis- 
lation, Awards, Reference, and Control. 

There is also a Board of Lady Managers com- 
posed of two members for every State and Terri- 
tory of the Union, with alternates, under whose 
supervision woman's share in the exhibit is being 
prepared. The following are the officers in the 
Board of Lady Managers : 

President, Mrs. Potter Palmer; First Vice President, Mrs. Ralph 
Trautmann; Second Vice President, Mrs. E. C. Burleigh; Third 
Vice President, Mrs Charles Price; Fourth Vice President, Miss 
K L. Minor; Fifth Vice President, Mrs. Beriah Wilkins; Sixth Vice 
President. Mrs S. R. Ashley; Seventh Vice President, Mrs. F. B 
Ginty; Eighth Vice President, Mrs. M. B. Salisbury; Vice President 
at Large, Mrs. R. D. Harrison; Secretary, Mrs Susan G Cooke. 



229 

There is also a body known as The World's Con- 
gress Auxiliary, which is an organization authorized 
and supported by the Exposition corporation for the 
purpose of bringing to Chicago a series of world's 
conventions of leaders in the various departments 
of human progress during the Exposition season 
of 1893. The auxiliary has also been recognized 
by the Government of the United States as the 
appropriate agency to conduct this important work. 
Its general announcement has been sent to foreign 
governments by the department of State, and an 
appropriation for its expenses has been made by 
act of Congress. 

The Auxiliary consist of an active membership 
of persons residing in Chicago or sufficiently near 
to attend committee meetings without inconve- 
nience and a nonresident membership divided into 
advisory councils of the different departments of 
progress and honorary and corresponding mem- 
bers. Each committee has its own advisory coun- 
cil, composed of eminent leaders of the world in 
the department to which it relates. Honorary and 
corresponding members are persons not assigned 
to a particular department, but whose prominence 
and influence make their aid and co-operation de- 
sirable. 

The officers of the Auxiliary are : 

President, Hon, Charles C. Bonney; Vice President, Hon. Thos. 
B. Bryan; Treasurer, Hon. Lyman J Gage; Secretary, Hon. Benja- 



230 



min Butterworth. There is also a President of the Woman's Branch 
of the Auxiliary, Mrs. Potter Palmer, and a Vice President. Mrs. 
Charles Henrotin. 

The dimensions and costs of the various buildings 
are shown complete in the following table: 



BUILDINGS. 



Mines and Mining 

Manufactures and Liberal Arts. 

Horticulture 

Electricity 

Woman's 

Transportation 

Administration 

Fish and Fisheries 

Annexes (2) 

Agriculture 

Annex 

Assembly hall, etc 

Machinery 

Annex . . 

Power House , 

Fine Arts 

Annexes (2) 

Forestry 

Saw-Mill 

Dairy 

Livestock (3).... 

Live Stock Sheds. 

Casino , . 



Total 

United States Government, 

Battleship 

Illinois State 

State Annexes (2) 

Grand Total 



Dimensions 
in feet 



350 
787 
250 
345 
200 
250 
260 
168 
135 
500 
328 
450 
500 
490 
80 
320 
120 
200 
125 
95 
65 



X 700 
xl687 
xlOOO 
x 700 
x 400 
X 960 
x 260 
X 363 
diam. 



800 
500 
500 
850 
551 
600 
500 
200 
500 
300 
X 200 
X 200 



175 X 300 



350 X 420 
348x69.25 
160 X 450 



Area 
acres. 



5 

30 

5 

5, 

1, 
5 
1. 
1, 

9, 

8, 

5, 

9, 

6. 

1, 

3 

1 

2 



40, 
1, 



u 



144.4 

3.4 

.3 

1.7 

.3 



150.1 



Cost. 



t 260.000 
1.100.000 
300.000 
375.000 
120.000 
280.000 
450.000 

200.000 

540.000 

200,000 

1.200.000 

500.000 

100 000 
35 000 
30.000 

150.000 

150.000 

^5.990.000 

400.000 
100.000 
250.000 



$6,740,000 



The first two of these are erected by the United 
States Government, and the third by the State of 
Illinois. They will form a striking portion of the 
group of buildings surrounding the lagoons. In 



231 

addition to these buildings at the north end of the 
Park, buildings will be erected that are to be de- 
voted to individul States and the foreign Govern- 
ments structures, probably one hundred In all. The 
latter will surround the gallery of fine arts at the 
north end of the lagoon. On the Midway Plais- 
ance the visitor will find special features, such as 
the bazaar of all Nations, the street of Cairo, the 
Constantinople Street, the Japanese village, the 
German village, etc. 

Among the various buildings in a more or less 
advanced state of construction, the Administra- 
tion Building at once challenges attention, being 
regarded as the finest. It stands at the west end 
of the great court in the southern part of the site, 
facing eastward, the transportation facilities and 
depots being immediately in its rear. The Ad- 
ministration Building cost $450,000, and its lofty 
dome is observable from all parts of the grounds. 
It consists of four pavilions, each eighty-four feet 
square, one at each of the four angles of the 
square and connected by the central dome, which 
is 120 feet in diameter and 220 feet in height. 
The design of this building is after the French 
renaissance^ the first story being on the Doric 
order of architecture of heroical proportions, the 
tiers of each pavilion being ornamented with fine 
sculptures. On the second story the Ionic style 
prevails. There are four great entrances fifty feet 



232 

Wide and fifty feet high, covered with huge arched 
vaults. Above the entrance doors are enormous 
screens of glass, through which light is given to 
the central rotunda. Galleries connect between 
the different pavilions. The internal features of 
the building are even more magnificent. Between 
every two of the grand entrances is a hall thirty 
feet square, giving access to the offices. The ro- 
tunda is octagonally formed, the first story con- 
sisting of eight great arched openings, correspond- 
ing in size to the arches at the entrance. The 
second story, fifty feet in height rises above the 
balcony, and from this rises the interior dome, 200 
feet from the floor, in the center of which is an 
opening fifty feet in diameter and through which 
licrht falls from the exterior dome overhead. The 
interior of the dome is richly paneled and moulded, 
the panels being ornamented with sculpture and 
paintings of numerous size and splendid design. 
The corner pavilions are divided into offices for 
the administration, lobbies and toilet rooms. The 
fire and police departments are located on the 
ground floor. In the second pavilion are the am- 
bulance offices and other departments ; in the 
third, a bank and post office; in the fourth, a 
restaurant. 

Next in magnitude to the Administration Build- 
ing, perhaps, is the Transportation Building, which 
is one of a group of edifices forming the north- 



233 

ern architectural court of the Exposition. It is 
situated between the horticultural and mines 
buildings, facing eastward and commanding a view 
of the floral island and part of the lagoon. The 
building is simple in its outlines, but rich and elab- 
orate in detail. The cupola of the Transportation 
Building, reached by eight elevators, commands a 
most beautiful view of the entire exterior Exposi- 
tion. The main entrance is in the form of a single 
arch, richly carved and decorated with bas reliefs 
and mural paintings. The main part of the build- 
ing is composed of a continuous arcade in which 
numerous minor entrances are pierced, while al- 
most at every place are grouped terraces, drink- 
ing fountains, statues, etc. The main part of the 
building is 960 feet front by 250 feet deep, from 
which extend a huge annex one story in height, 
covering about nine acres. In the annex, the 
more bulky exhibits are to be found. Along the 
central avenues scores of locomotive engines will be 
found, highly polished and greatly adding to the 
grandeur of the effect. In this building will be 
found exhibits of everything connected with trans- 
portation, from a carrier pigeon to a traction en- 
gine. 

Passing from the Transportation Building one 
comes to Machinery Hall, which is said to be 
second only in magnificence to the Administration 
Building. Machinery Hali is located at the ex- 



234 



treme south of the Park, between the west Park 
line and Lake Michigan, standing south of the 
Administration Building across the lagoon from the 
Agricultural Building. This ^^ 
building is spanned by three 
great archways, and the in- 
terior looks not unlike three 

railroad train 

houses grouped side 
by side. The arches 
or trusses are built sep- 
arately and will be sold 
after the Exposition is over 
to the railroads for use as 
train houses. The building 
has numerous platforms upon 
which visitors may stand and 
view all that is transpiring. A 
power-house adjoining will supply 
all the power needed. The entire 
group of buildings in this vicinity is de- 
signed so as to conform with the idea of 
a Spanish town, the same being consid- 
/ ered appropriate in a Columbian celebration. 
Between the Machinery and Agricultural Halls 
is a space covered by a colonnade and cafe; in the 
center is an archway which, if followed to the end, 
will lead the visitor to the cattle exhibit. There is 




235 

also a portico which affords a view of nearly a mile 
down the lagoon. Machinery Hall has an annex 
coverino- between four and five acres, thus increas- 
ing the length of the actual building to about 1,400 
feet. It ranks second of the larger structures of 
the Exposition. 

The Woman's Building, it is safe to say, will 
be the main object of interest to a large number 
of visitors at the Fair. It is situated in the north- 
west part of the Park, facing the great lagoon with 
the beauty island of flowers at its front. In this 
building will be grouped exhibits showing woman's 
work in every conceivable form, and judging by 
the progress made at this writing, the building 
itself will be no less splendid than the array of 
marvels it will contain. In front of the Woman's 
Building the lagoon stretches out to a bay 400 
feet in width, from the center of which a landing 
and staircase leads to a wide terrace. Above the 
terrace are other staircases giving access to the 
ground floor of the building itself On the first 
terrace are artistically designed flower beds and 
shrubs, and the building itself, in the style of the 
Italian renaissance will be considered one of the 
most attractive points for the visitor. The main 
grouping of the building consists in a center pavil- 
ion with a corner pavilion at each end, connected 
at the first pavilion with open arcades. There is 
a shady promenade the whole length of the struc- 



' 236 

ture. The first floor is ten feet above the ground 
line. The pavilion is reached by a wide staircase 
which forms the main triple-arched entrance. The 
corner pavilions are two stories high, where are 
located the hanging gardens and the committee 
rooms of the Board of Lady Managers. There 
is a lobby forty feet wide leading into the rotunda, 
the latter being surrounded by an open arcade of 
beautiful design. On the first floor of the build- 
ing will be found a model hospital and a kindergar- 
ten. As to exhibits, the whole floor of the south 
pavilion will be devoted to the delineation of wo- 
man's work in the past; the one on the north to 
reform work and charity organization. Above this 
are located ladies' parlors, committee rooms and 
dressing rooms, all of which lead to the open bal- 
cony on the front. The balcony commands a su- 
perb view of almost the entire grounds. In the 
south pavilion will be found the kitchen and re- 
freshment rooms, etc. 

The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building 
stands alone as the largest Exposition building 
ever designed, being 1,687 feet long and 787 feet 
wide and covering an area of thirty and one-half 
acres. The building is rectangular in form, its 
great central hall being its feature. The height of 
the roof is 245J feet at the apex, and the 380 feet 
space is covered by a single arch without so much 
as a supporting column. The height from the floor 



237 

to the center of the arch is 201 feet, the roof being 
supported by twenty-two steel arches, each arch 
weighing 125 tons. An idea of the magnitude of 
this building may be conceived from the fact that 
over 5,000 tons of steel were used in the con- 
struction of the main hall. Extending^ around this 
hall is a gallery twenty feet from the floor, sixty- 
seven feet wide, twenty-one feet of which space 
overhangs the floor of the hall. Beyond the gal- 
lery is a nave 108 feet wide and 114 feet to the 
roof Extending around the nave into the outside 
limit of the building is a gallery twenty feet frorn 
the floor and forty-nine and one-half feet wide, the 
two galleries being connected by twenty-eight 
bridges fifty feet in width and 108 feet in length. 
Forty-one carloads of glass were used in the con- 
struction of the roof The immensity of the build- 
ing may be still further conjectured by the fact that 
it is three times as laro^e as St. Peter's Cathedral 
in Rome ; twenty buildings the size of the Audito- 
rium could be placed side by side on its floor, and 
its central floor is big enough to seat 50,000 peo- 
ple. The building, which is in the Corinthian 
style of architecture, will contain, besides pavil- 
ions and promenades, about sixteen large cafes 
and seventy-five private dining rooms. The 
building faces the lake and fronts upon smooth 
lawns and wide promenades. Its estimated cost 
is $1,500,000. 



238 

But the building" that will challenge the attention 
of everybody, rich and poor, young and old alike, 
will be the Art Palace, which is Grecian- lonican 
style and a pure type of the most beautiful archi- 
tecture. The Art Palace is 500 feet long by 320 
wide. Collections of sculpture will be displayed 
on the main floor of the nave and transit, and on 
the walls of both the ground floor and balcony 
will be ample space for paintings. Small picture 
galleries will occupy the corners. All around the 
building are spacious galleries forming a continu- 
ous promenade. In small spaces between the 
promenade and the naves are small rooms to be 
devoted to private collections and the collections 
of the various art schools. There are also large 
annexes to the main building, which will be used 
for various art exhibits. There are four entrances 
to the main building approached by broad flights 
of stairs. The entire construction of the Art 
Palace is the most of classic order and will compare 
favorably with any Exposition building ever con- 
structed. The location of the palace is the north- 
ern portion of the Park, the south front facing the 
lagoon, from which it is separg.ted by beautiful ter- 
races, and immense flight of steps lead from its 
main portal to the lagoon, where there is a land- 
ing for gondolas. From the north front are to be 
seen the wide expanse of lawn and the group of 
State buildings. 



239 

The Horticultural Building stands just south of 
the entrance to Jackson Park from the Midway 
Plaisance, facing east on the lagoon. The front 
of the terrace borders the water, its center form- 
ing a boat landing. The length of the building is 
1,000 feet and its width 250. Its plan is a central 
pavilion with two end pavilions connected by front 
and rear corridors, forming two interior courts, 
each 270 feet by eighty-eight feet. A colossal 
dome 288 feet in diameter crowns the central part 
of the pavilion, under which are to be shown the 
tallest palms, bamboos and tropical tree plants to 
be found anywhere on the face of the earth. The 
galleries in each of the pavilions have been de- 
signed particularly for cafes, the surroundings being 
considered inducive to the enjoyment of refresh- 
ments. On three sides of these cafes stretches an 
arcade commanding a fine view of the grounds. 
In this building will be found arrayed every variety 
of flower, plant, vine and sod, together with a 
complete array of every implement used in horti- 
culture. Such parts of the building as require it 
will, of course, be warmed to a tropical tempera- 
ture. 

The Dairy Building will be of special interest 
to the agriculturist for whose special favor and ed- 
ification it was designed. Besides the exhibits of 
dairy products it will contain a dairy school, in 
connection with which will be carried on a series 



240 

of tes'ts to determine the various merits of differ- 
ent breeds of dairy cattle and milk and butter pro- 
ducers. The Dairy Building- stands close to the 
lake shore in the southeastern part of the Park, 
and covers one-half acre. It measures 200 feet 
by ninety-five, and is two stories in height. It is 
simple in design. On the first floor appears a 
large open space to be devoted to the butter ex- 
hibits, while further back will be the large operat- 
ing room to be devoted to the dairy. This room 
will contain an amphitheater capable of accommo- 
dating four hundred spectators, under whose seats 
will be stored refrigerators for the care of the pro- 
ducts turned out. The cheese exhibits will be 
placed in the gallery, the rest of the second story 
being devoted to a cafe which overlooks the lake. 
The dairy school, which is regarded as of special 
interest, this being a great agricultural country, 
will continue in operation throughout the entire 
Fair, and will, no doubt, prove of surpassing in- 
terest to visitors. 

The Fisheries Building is regarded as one of 
the most artistic of all, embracing, as it does, a 
large central structure with two smaller buildings 
connected with it by arcades at either end. The 
extreme length of the building is 1,100 feet and its 
width 200 feet. It stands to the north of the 
United States Government Building. In one of 
the similar buildings or annexes will be found the 



241 

angling- exhibit and in the other the aquaria. The 
architecture of the building is exceedingly quaint, 
the designer having arranged the ornamentation 
in such a way as to employ only fish and sea forms 
for his designs. The display of live fish will be 
something wonderful. In the middle of the ro- 
tunda will be found a basin or pool twenty-six feet 
wide, in the center of which will be a mass of 
moss-covered rocks. From crevices in this mass 
will flow streams of water to the basin below, and 
in this great basin all sorts of live fish will disport 
themselves. Outside the rotunda is a great cor- 
ridor or arcade, on opposite sides of which are 
tanks, great and small to accommodate members 
of the finny tribes. This arcade is fifteen feet 
wide. The glass fronts of the aquaria will have 
3,000 square feet of surface. 



PART II. 



LOOKING AROUND. 




A trip to the World's 
Fair grounds even now 
will convince the visitor 
of two things, namely: 
the magnitude of the 
undertaking and the 
steady approach of the 
whole enterprise t o 
completion. The ar- 
rangement of roadways 
whereby one may make 
the circuit of the 
grounds in carriage or afoot, stopping at every 
point desired to examine the details of the work, 
is excellent. An admission fee of twenty-five 
cents is now charged and the readiness with 
which thousands of persons pay it everyday for 
the privilege of taking a look around is some 
index to the probabilities with regard to the at- 
tendance a year hence. 

Besides the buildings mentioned in a preced- 
ing chapter there are the following: The For- 
estry building, Electrical building, Agricultural 
building, Mines and Mining, Government 



243 

building, Illinois State building, the casino and 
pier, the United States naval exhibit. Before 
proceeding further these may be briefly sketched. 
The dimensions of the Forestry building are 
500 by 200 feet. The architecture is rustic in 
style and is surrounded by a veranda and colon- 
nade, the latter consisting of a series of columns 
composed of three tree trunks 25 feet long, one 
of which is 16 to 20 inches in diameter and the 
others of smaller girth. The tree trunks have 
been permitted to retain their bark, thereby 
creating a unique effect. They come from all 
states and countries, each of which has contri- 
buted a specimen of the best known tree. Tlje 
building itself is constructed of slabs and 
thatched with various barks, the interior being 
finished in woods in such a manner as to show 
the graining and polishing susceptibilities of 
each. Tablets on the tree trunks forming the 
colonnades will inform the visitor as to where 
each came from, with other interesting informa- 
tion. Flags will float above this building, de- 
noting the different nations whose products are 
on exhibition within. The forestry exhibit may 
be considered as one of the most interesting to 
be found at the fair, comprising, as it will, logs 
and sections of trees and "worked" lumber in 
every form, such as shingles, flooring, casing, 
etc. Look also for dye woods, barks, mosses, 



244 

lichens, gums, rosins, cocoanut shells, gourds, 
rattan, willow-ware and wooden-ware, tubs, 
brooms, etc. More than one saw mill will be 
seen in active operation and will be quite dis- 
tinct from the exhibits of saw-mill and wood, 
working machinery on view in Machinery hall. 
The Forestry building is one of the cheapest at 
the Fair, costing only 135,000, but its projec- 
tors expect it to be by no means the least en- 
tertaining or instructive. 

The Electrical building will be one of the 
most important, the exhibit of electrical appli- 
ances and devices being expected to enchain 
the attention of scientists and experts as well 
as the uniniated millions. The building is 700 
feet in width by 345 feet in length, and has been 
constructed on magnificent plans at a cost of 
$345,000. It is two stories in height and con- 
tains spacious galleries from which crowds may 
view all that is going on below. In the north 
end of the building is a great semi-circle win- 
dow, above which, 102 feet from the ground, is 
a spacious gallery, affording the visitor a wide 
view of the lagoon and that part of the grounds 
stretching to the north. In a niche at the south 
part of the Electrical building is a heroic statue 
of Benjamin Franklin, whose name connects 
American history with one of the most impor- 
tant discoveries of modern times. The build- 



245 

ing has four pavilions, with towers 169 feet 
high. There are domes, spires and columns 
adorning the building with an architectural and 
imposing magnificence that rivets the attention 
at first sight and makes it one of the most 
striking attractions in the grounds. It is need- 
less to say that the exhibit will show everything 
in connection with the marvelous power, elec- 
tricity, discoveries in which, some people claim, 
are yet in their infancy and the rapid advance- 
ments in which are destined ultimately to revo- 
utionize the world. 

The Agricultural building, 800 feet in length 
by 500 feet in width, stands close to the shore 
of the lake, its east side fronting upon a har- 
bor of refuge for pleasure craft. The designs 
of the building, which is but one story in height, 
is bold and impressive. On either side of the 
main entrance are Corinthian pillars, fifty feet 
high. The main entrance is 60 feet wide and 
leads into a vestibule, thence into a rotunda 100 
feet in diameter. Above the rotunda is a large 
glass dome, 130 feet in height. To the south 
of the Agricultural building proper is the vast 
structure to be devoted to the live stock exhibit 
and agricultural assembly hall. The elevated 
railway station affords every access to the build- 
ing. In it will be held the meetings of all per- 
sons interested in live stock. There will also 



246 

be a bureau of information, spacious waiting and 
toilet rooms; also an assembly room with a seat- 
ing capacity of 1,500, and complete facilities 
for lectures, etc. More than twelve acres of 
ground are covered by the Agricultural build- 
ing and its annex. 

The Mines and Mining building is one of the 
most imposing on the grounds and stands at 
the south end of the western lagoon, between 
the Transportation and Electricity buildings, 
being 700 feet in length by 750 feet in width. 
From its balconies and porticos splendid views 
may be had of a vast portion of the grounds 
and in its front are spacious lawns dotted with 
flowers. The wonders to be found in this 
building cannot be adequately described in ad- 
vance. Mines of all sorts, in every stage of 
operation, are to be shown. The visitor may 
feast his eyes on piles of silver and gold in 
every stage, from the ore freshly taken from the 
earth to the gleaming double-eagles, most royal 
of all the coins ! And silver dollars fresh from 
the mint. And precious stones! They will 
be there in every variety and all stages ot pre- 
paration. A promise has been made that an 
African diamond mine will be shown in active 
operation. At one point will be seen the dusky 
native delving for the rarest of gems; at an- 
other a skilled workman cutting and setting 



247 

brilliants of -purest ray serene." All this and 
much more will this wonderful building contain- 

'' '' ' ""!!!! !''.'^^^^^^' ^^^ ^^^^^ ^i" pos- 
sess so great a 

charm for the 
crowds who will 
be apt to stand 
there and let 
their mouths 
water in awe- 
some hunger at 
the sight of so vast 
an aggregation of 
wealth. 

The Government 
1^/2' building is situated on 
the lake shore, south of 
the main lagoon, near 
to the buildings of Eng- 
land, Germany and 
Mexico. It is built of 
iron, brick and glass at 
C^^.^ 3. cost of 1400,000. All 
the departments of the 
-^•--===^ Government, such as 

the post-ofhce, war office, etc., will make 
special exhibits. Ample space has been 
allotted for the exhibits of the Smithsonian 
Institute and interior department. The 




248 

government exhibits include the mint, the coast 
and the geodetic survey, the bureau of engrav- 
ing and printing, the bureau of statistics, the 
life-saving board, the light house board and the 
marine hospital. The life-saving exhibit shows 
a life-saving station built and equipped with 
every appliance and a regular crew which will go 
through all the life-saving maneuvers in prac- 
tice on the coasts. The coast survey exhibit 
includes a mammoth map of the United States, 
400 feet square, constructed of plaster of paris, 
and placed horizontally on the ground beneath 
a covering erected over it. By a system of 
galleries and pathways on the inside the visitor 
may ''walk over the whole United States" with- 
out touching it, as one recent writer has expressed 
himself. The scale of the map accurately 
shows the exact height of all the mountains and 
the depth of all the rivers in the United States. 
Here is a fine chance for a lesson in geography. 
The war department exhibit shows all the uni- 
forms ever worn by United States' soldiers, a 
telephone as it would be used on the battle-field, 
besides all means of army telegraphing and sig- 
naling. 

The naval exhibit will without doubt attract a 
great share of attention. It consists of a struc- 
ture, erected in the lake, typifying with marvel- 
ous accuracy one of the new coast-line battle- 



249 

ships recently constructed for the American 
navy. The structure stands on piling at the 
edge of the lake at the northeast side of Jack- 
son park. Being quite surrounded by water 
the structure has the exact appearance of a ves- 
sel moored to the wharf. It is fitted with all 
the appliances of an actual ship, such as guns, 
turrets, torpedo tubes, anchors, etc. The navy 
department will send on a special crew to serve 
during the exposition and the visitors will have 
an opportunity to witness all the workings of an 
American man-of-war. 

A delightful feature of the fair will be the 
mammoth casino and pier. The pier runs out 
i,ooo feet into Lake Michigan and at its extrem- 
ity is the casino, which is so constructed as to 
give, on the waters of Lake Michigan, a minia- 
ture representation of beautiful Venice. The 
casino is built on piles and embraces nine 
pavilions, eight of which are two stories in height, 
the center one rearing i8o feet. Bridges and 
gondolas afford communication between the 
pavilions. In part of the casino is a harbor for 
pleasure craft. At night the harbor will be 
lighted by incandescent lamps sunk beneath 
the surface of the water and the brilliancy of 
the scene may be imagined. 

The Illinois State building occupies a fine site 
in the prettiest spot in Jackson park. The 



250 

state appropriated |8oo,ooo for this building 
and the money has been well expended. The 
building is 450 feet in length by 160 feet in 
width, and is constructed of wood, stone, brick 
and steel, nearly all the material having been 
procured in Illinois. A feature of the building 
is Memorial Hall, which contains a superb col- 
lection of relics of the war and other periods. 
An admirable view of the main exhibit hall may 
be had from the spacious galleries. The exhibit 
will include five model school-rooms, equipped 
and furnished under the direction of the state 
superintendent of public instruction. Here will 
be illustrated the methods of education pursued 
in the state, from the common school to the 
university. The exhibit also includes collec- 
tions illustrating the natural history and archae- 
ology of the state; an exhibition by the State 
Fish Commission of native and cultivated live 
fish, with hatchery, appliances and equipments 
for transportation. Also maps, charts, etc., il- 
lustrative of all the resources of the state. The 
women of Illinois were promised, or presented 
with, #80,000 and space in this building for a 
special exhibit illustrating women's work in the 
state. 



PART III. 



THE DEDICATORY CEREMONIES. 




THOUGH the great 
exposition will not be 
formally opened until 
May 1st, 1893, the fall 
season of the present year 
will witness the dedica- 
^ tory ceremonies, which 
will be conducted on a 
scale of magnificence un- 
equaled in the history of 
such enterprises. The dedication of the build- 
ings will in reality be a sort of informal opening 
of the fair itself, inasmuch as the publication 
of accounts of the ceremonies will start the 
stream of visitors Chicago-ward, and all through 
the succeeding year, up to the time of the open- 
ing, people will journey hither to see how the 
colossal enterprise is progressing. If crowds 
are willing even now to pay an admission fee 
of 25 cents (which is at present charged) to see 
the buildings in their embryotic state, how 
much more willing will they be to do so after 
the dedication of the buildings has set the stamp 
of actuality on the stupendous display. 



252 

The dedication ceremonies are to take place 
in October of the present year, and the pro- 
gramme has been fully arranged. The celebra- 
tion will last four days, during which one of the 
features will be a military encampment. The 
troops will be under command of an officer of 
the United States army, to be designated here- 
after by the Secretary of War. The ceremonies 
will open with a mammoth civic parade which 
will, doubtless, be appreciated by the thousands 
of visitors who will by that time have assem- 
bled. The parade will be allegorical in charac- 
ter and typical of the world's ''march of pro- 
gress." This will transpire during the morning 
hours. In the evening there will be an even 
grander display, in the form of the "Procession 
of Centuries," a historical representation of 
American progress, including scenes in the life 
of Columbus, and showing the gigantic strides 
accomplished in science and art, the discovery 
and development of steam, electricity, etc. 
This procession will be repeated each evening 
during the four days' celebration. The regular 
evening features will also include magnificent 
displays of fireworks at Jackson Park and along 
the Lake Front. 

The feature of the second day's celebration 
will be a magnificent military parade and re- 
view, in which all the visiting troops will take 



253 

part. The display of the following day will be for 
dedication day proper, and the main building 
in Jackson Park will be the scene of the me- 
morial services. An idea of the grandeur of 
these services may be gained from a glance at 
the programme as already mapped out. 
Promptly at lo o'clock in the morning the 
troops will parade in readiness to receive Ben- 
jamin Harrison, president of the United States, 
vvith proper military honors. After being saluted 
by the troops the president will lead the way 
into the building, accompanied by his cabinet, 
the diplomatic corps (which will come on in a 
body from Washington for the occasion), and 
other distinguished foreigners. Inside ' the 
building the president will receive the repre- 
sentatives of the thirteen original states with 
proper ceremonies. After this the remaining 
states will be received in the order of their ad- 
mission to the union. The various states will 
be represented by their governors and their staffs, 
whose brilliant uniforms, together with the ban- 
ners and other insignia that they will bear, will 
contribute to a scene the gorgeousness of which 
can scarcely be imagined. 

When the formal receptions are over and the 
great throng of people comfortably arranged the 
following programme will be observed: 



254 

1. Overture — (Original music by an American composer.) 

2. Prayer. 

3. Address and report from Director-General George R. Davis. 

4. Presentation of buildings by the president of the World's 
Columbian Exposition to the president of the World's Columbian 
Commission. 

5. Commemoration Ode — (Miss Harriet Monroe) — with original 
music. 

6. Address by the president of the United States. 

7. "Star-Spangled Banner." 

8. Dedication oration. 

9. Hallelujah chorus. 

10. National salute of forty-eight battery volleys. 

On the evening of the second day the president 
will hold a reception in honor of the diplomatic 
corps, distinguished foreigners and invited 
guests. On the evening of the third day there 
will be a grand dedication ball at the Auditor- 
ium, a ball which for magnificence and brilliancy 
will probably supersede anything ever seen in 
this country. Even now, several months before 
the date set, people are figuring on how to 
secure invitations, but as 5,000 people at the 
most can enter the ball-room many of course 
will have to be disappointed. Participation in 
this gorgeousy"^/^^ will be confined to very prom- 
inent citizens and distinguished visitors from 
other cities and across the ocean. Every day 
there will be military drills and parades, closing 
on the last day with a grand sham battle. 

The foregoing is merely an outline of the en- 
tertaining and elaborate ceremonies. It is 



255 

only reasonable to expect that the programme 
will be enlarged in its attractiveness as the time 
approaches for carrying out the carefully stud- 
ied plans and features. It is to be presumed 
that every one knows these ceremonies will be 
commemorative of the completion of the world's 
fair buildings. The day after the ceremonies 
are concluded the work of arranging the exhib- 
its in the buildings will begin and this will be car- 
ried on with all due expedition until the great 
opening day, ist of May, 1893. The cere- 
monies, it should be stated, are at present under 
the charge of the following gentlemen, composing 
the committee on ceremonies of the World's 
Columbian Commission: Hon. P. A. B. Wide- 
ner, Philadelphia, Pa.; Hon. John D. Adams, 
Little Rock, Ark.; Hon. Wm. Lindsay, Frank- 
fort, Ky. ; Gen. V. D. Groner, Norfolk, Va.; 
Hon. C. H. Richmond, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Hon. 
G. W. Allen, Auburn, N. Y. ; Hon. M. B. Har- 
rison, Duluth, Minn.; Gov. R. B. Furnas, 
Brownsville, Neb. And of the following who 
compose the committee on ceremonies of the 
World's Columbian Exposition: Messrs. Ed- 
ward F. Lawrence, Chas. T. Yerkes, James W. 
Ellsworth, Charles L. Hutchinson, W. D. Ker- 
foot, Ferd. W. Peck, Charles H. Schwab, Chas. 
H. Wacker — all of Chicago. 



256 ' 

Acting for the best interests of everybody 
concerned these two committees, acting as the 
joint committee, have selected the following 
sub-committee to assist them with the details 
in connection with the preparation for the cere- 
monies: 

On behalf of the World's Columbian commis- 
sion — Director-General George R. Davis and 
Secretary John T. Dickinson. On behalf of 
the World's Columbian Exposition association 
— Chas. T. Yerkes, E. F. Lawrence and C. H. 
Wacker. 



PART IV. 



THE CHICAGO HUSSARS. 



THERE is every rea- 
son to suppose that 
considerable interest 
will attach to the Chi- 
cago Hussars, a regi- 
ment of volunteer cav- 
alry which has already 
secured the honor of 
acting as special es- 
cort to the officers of 
the exposition on all 
occasions of state. 
The Chicago Hussars 
are comprised of gen- 
tlemen who own their 
horses and are rich enough to afford the luxury 
of costly uniforms, expensive banquets and 
other delights dear to the military heart. Mr. 
E. L. Brand, a prominent citizen, is the com- 
manding officer of the Hussars, and the rank 
and file numbers over a hundred gentlemen, 
who, when mounted on their dashing steeds 
and clad in their gorgeous trappings, present a 
most dazzling appearance. Chicago at present 




258 

enjoys the distinction of being the only city of 
the United States possessing a volunteer cav- 
alry regiment. The Hussars are shortly to 
erect, at some advantageous point on the South 
side convenient to the boulevard, the finest 
club-house and armory in America. This will 
include a riding ring, perfect in appointments 
and over 500 feet in circumference. The ap- 
pointments include one hundred box stalls and 
a balcony seating fifteen hundred spectators, 
commanding a perfect view of the ring. The 
prosperity of the Hussars and their appointment 
by the director-general of the exposition as a 
special guard of honor, for properly escorting 
distinguished visitors and officials about the 
city during the continuance of the fair, makes a 
membership in their ranks a prize much to be 
desired. The volunteer cavalrymen on the 
march will be one of the sights of the city. The 
regiment's list of officers is as follows: Captain, 
E. L. Brand; First Lieutenant, M. L. C. Funk- 
houser; Second Lieutenant, Joseph B. Keene. 
The staff officers are: Inspector, P. R. Mc- 
Leod; Judge Advocate, A. Fouguer; Quarter- 
Master, Charles Kern; Surgeon, Stewart John- 
stone, M. D. 



PART V. 



WORLD S CONGRESS. 



THE imposing structure known as the Per- 
manent Memorial Art Palace, about to be 
erected on the site of the old exposition build- 
ing and mentioned in a previous chapter, is to 
be the scene of some notable gatherings during 
the continuance of the fair. The building is to 
be devoted to the exclusive use of the world's 
congresses. It will contain two large audience 
halls, having a seating capacity of 3,500 each, 
with twenty smaller halls, which may be utilized 
by committees and other bodies into which con- 
gresses are usually divided. These world's 
Congresses will be interesting from every stand- 
point. There will be special congresses of last- 
ing organizations, under the supervision of the 
auxiliary, to which will be delegated the consid- 
eration of all live questions, such congresses being 
conducted by their own special officers. There 
will also be popular congresses, open to all who 
may desire to attend, and at which will be pres- 
ented for discussion all questions governing the 
results of human progress in all the channels of 
civilized life. The discussion will be carried on 
under the direction of the ablest exponent of that 



26o 

particular branch of knowedge whose services 
can be procured for the occasion. These con- 
gresses, besides providing the various organiz- 
ations with the opportunity to discuss their in- 
terests, will secure to the people the opportun- 
ity to hear words of wisdom from the wisest of 
mankind. Suppose Mr. Gladstone, the most 
eminent Englishman of his time, should visit 
the fair, as is not improbable? Should he do 
so he will unquestionably be invited to deliver 
an oration. Mr. Gladstone is only one of many 
European notables who are expected to attends 
and they will of course be conspicuous at these 
world's congresses in the Permanent Art build- 
ing. 



PART VI. 



THE FAIR ITSELF. 



WHEN Mr. Edwin 
Lee Brown, a pioneer 
citizen of Chicago, 
died in the summer 
of 1 89 1, there passed 
away the man who is 
said to have been the 
first to suggest the 
idea of holding a 
world's fair in com- 
~ memoration of the 
400th anniversary of 
the discovery '.of 
America. The mind, 
therefore, which con- 
ceived this mighty 
project, over which all the nations are agog, is 
now stilled in everlasting sleep, but to those of 
us who have memories the fair will remain a 
lasting monument to the greatness of that mas- 
ter mind. 

Mr. Brown first proposed his scheme to a 
meeting of citizens in 1885. His words took 
root immediately. Like a flash the idea rushed 




262 

through the land, and met with such a unani- 
mous response that long before the plan had 
the sanction of Congress the holding of the 
fair was a certainty. From the time it so be- 
came a settled fact in prospect a number of cit- 
ies waged a strong and at times bitter fight 
for the honor of having the fair held within 
their favorite environ. New York was Chicago's 
most formidable rival, though various other 
cities contested determinedly for the honor. 
Chicago's campaign was carried on with energy. 
A stock company was formed and 15,000,000 
subscribed — 15,000,000 more being pledged 
long before it was needed. Headquarters were 
established and agents sent all over the United 
States to enlist the national sympathies in be- 
half of Chicago. When the question of loca- 
tion finally came up before Congress the strug- 
gle was sharp, short and decisive. But a few 
ballots were taken when the decision was made. 
That night was a happy one in Chicago. Some 
people celebrated a little uproariously, it is true, 
but ''everything went," so to speak, on an oc- 
casion like that, and nobody complained of the 
widespread enthusiasm. 

Not a day was lost. It seems a long stretch 
of time since then, but everything considered 
the progress made has been simply phenomenal. 
AH udges agree on this point. The great na- 



263 

tions of the earth, in response to the president's, 
proclamation, have signified their intention to 
be fully represented. The following is a list of 




K',' . .^-. 



the countries that will participate, showing the 
amounts appropriated by their respective gov- 
ernments: 

Argentine Republic, 1 100,000; Austria-Hun- 
gary|i47,ooo; Bolivia, 1150,000; Brazil, 1550,000 



264 

Chile, 1 100,000 ; Colombia, 1 100,000; Costa Rica, 
1 1 00,000; Danish West Indies, 1 10,000; Ecuador, 
#125,000; France, 1400,000; Germany, $20,000; 
$2 1 5,000 ;Great Britain,#i 25,000 ; British Guiana, 
British Honduras, $7,000; Cape Colony, 125,000; 
Ceylon, 140,000; Jamaica, 1 10,000; New Zea- 
land, 127,500; Trinidad, 115,000; Guatemala, 
|i 20,000; Honduras, |20,ooo; Japan, 1700,000; 
Mexico, 1750,000; Dutch Guiana, |6,ooo; Dutch 
West Indies, $10,000; Nicaragua, $30,000; Peru, 
$140,000; Salvador, $30,000; Cuba, $25,000. 

It is hardly possible, in mere words, to con- 
vey an idea of what the fair will be like, but 
from previous chapters the reader will have 
formed his own opinion and his imagination 
must supply the rest. To say that it will be 
the most wonderful exhibition in all history is 
to employ very mild language indeed. The 
grounds will present a sight that will never be 
forgotten. At night, when all the buildings are 
glittering with their myriads of electric lights 
and great showers of fireworks soaring heaven- 
ward; when the great lake itself fairly blazes 
under the glare of illuminated craft and the 
stupendous carnival is at its hight, the visitor 
may be pardoned, if, in the excitement of the 
moment, he fancies that he has fallen off the 
earth and stepped into another world, peopled 
by fairies and decked with palaces reared by 
the magicians' wand. 



PART VII. 




SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE FAIR. 

ASIDE 

from the 
great build- 
ings that will 
of course be 
the main 
points o f 
-interest, 
there are 

numerous special features promised — features 
that will be unique in their way and reflecting 
in a great degree the manners and customs of 
the people who inhabit the countries of which 
they will be typical. It has been decided that 
a single entrance fee, probably fifty cents, shall 
entitle the visitors to see the entire exposition 
proper. For the special attractions on Midway 
Plaisance a moderate additional charge will be 
made. In the course of time these attractions 
will doubtless be added to, but even the present 
plans are liberal enough to give satisfaction. 
The Plaisance, which is a strip of land connect- 
ing Jackson Park with Washington Park, will 
be occupied throughout its entire length by 



266 



special exposition features, largely of a foreign 
character, such as the '^Bazaar of All Nations,'' 
'Street in Cairo," ^'Street in Constantinople," 
"Moorish Palace," ''Maori Village," etc. Con- 
lii cessions have been granted to all 
n;i|!f|L these enterprises and their production 

^ ■ --^ will represent the 

n P\ jli ! n/ " I expenditure of hun- 




dreds of thousands 
of dollars. Pano- 
ramas, cycloramas, 
the sliding railway, 
etc., will also be 
located in this part 
of the exhibition grounds. 

A person of imaginative temperament can 
easily picture to himself the attractions that may 
be found in this locality. The "Bazaar of All 
Nations" is a mammoth structure in which will 



26/ ^ 

be representatives of almost every clime under 
the sun, grouped in their native habitations and 
presenting to the visitor exactly the same ap- 
pearance as that which characterizes their home 
routine of life. Their manufactures, occupa- 
tions and pleasures will be graphically pictured. 
The ''Street in Cairo" is to be exactly what its 
name implies. A street in that sleepy and 
quaint old Egyptian city will be deftly repro- 
duced, in passing down which the visitor may 
see sights exactly similar to those that would 
greet his vision if he were touring in far-off 
Cairo itself instead of in Chicago — the famous 
city that finds everything possible, even to the 
reproduction of an entire Egyptian city, to say 
nothing of a single street from such. The 
Moorish Palace will be a splendid structure 
and within its gorgeous recesses one may wan- 
der and try to imagine how Othello felt when 
he paced his vaulted halls a prey to the demon 
jealousy. 

According to recent plans fully 1 50 restaurants 
and cafes will be in operation in the various 
buildings and about the grounds. These will 
be conveniently distributed and will have an es- 
timated aggregate seating capacity of 6,000 to 
8,000. It is intended to have in the Fisheries 
building a restaurant devoted as far as possi- 
ble to the exclusive serving of fish. Fish din- 



268 



nersand fish, fresh and salt, served in every edi- 
ble style, it is believed, will be a popular fea- 
ture. In view of the present outlook it doesn't 
seem as though any visitor need go hungry at 
the fair. 



In line with 
features, per- 
announcement 
that a silver- 
smith in Mon- 



the special 
haps, is the 
recently made 




terey, Mexico, is 
engaged on a work 
n silver which 
when completed will be an exact reproduction 
of the Agricultural building now in process of 



269 

completion at the exposition grounds. It 
will be eight feet wide, will contain a quality 
of silver valued as bullion at 1 10,000, and when 
finished will be valued at |2o,ooo. The 
Connecticut members of the Board of Lady 
Managers have undertaken to raise by 
contribution a fund with which to pay for a fine 
bust of Harriet Beecher Stowe. This will be 
their contribution toward the adornment of the 
walls of the Woman's building. Copies of Mrs. 
Stowe's literary works will also be contributed. 
The President of Ecuador has decreed that 
the governors of each state of the Republic 
shall collect and forward to Quito, the capital, 
exhibits of all kinds illustrating the riches and 
productions of their several states. The Arch- 
bishop of Ecuador has issued an order to the 
bishops and priests throughout the Republic 
directing them to do the same, and also collect 
and forward everything which may be in their 
keeping illustrative of the history of the country 
suitable to exhibit at Chicago. The Consul- 
General of the United States at Quito has di- 
rected the consuls and vice-consuls and consular 
agents at different points in Ecuador to assist 
the governors of states in every way possible 
in the matter of collection of articles relating 
to commerce with exterior countries. The en- 
tire exhibit so collected will be forwarded in- 
tact to Chicago. 



270 



Lieut. Baker, head of the marine section of 
the department of transportation, has secured 
a promise from the Detroit Dry-dock Company 
for an exhibit of a perfect model in stucco of 
the entire ship-building plant of that company, 
both at its Detroit and Wyandotte yards. 

A bill has recently been introduced in Con- 
gress carrying an appropriation of |i8,ooo *'to 
procure, prepare, compile for publication and 
publish statistics of the moral, intellectual and 
industrial progress of the colored people of the 
United States from January i, 1863, the date of 
the emancipation proclamation, to January i, 
1893, as a part of the government exhibit, the 
same to illustrate the growth of liberty, moral- 
ity and humanity of the United States." 

The women of England, it is understood, are 
actively preparing for their participation in the 
exposition. At a meeting of the Woman's 
Committee in London, March 3, of the present 
year, it was announced that Queen Victoria had 
promised specimens of her own work in spin- 
ning and knitting, done when she was a girl; 
also some of her embroidering, fine drawing and 
water-color painting. Princess Louise will con- 
tribute some clay modelling, Princess Beatrice 
several paintings and Princess Christian some 
embroidery. 

It is probable that the visitors to the expo- 



271 

sition will have an opportunity to see a more 
extensive and finer exhibition of ancient Greek 
art than it has heretofore been possible to con- 
template outside of Greece. Mr. P. Canread- 
ing, director-general of Grecian antiquities, has 
accepted the invitation to participate in the ex- 
position, with the understanding that it will be 
represented only by memorials of its antiquities. 
Charles Walstein, director of the American 
school of classic studies at Athens, states that 
the Grecian government has agreed to make 
and send to the exposition casts of the princi- 
pal works of ancient art now in Greece, together 
with maps, diagrams and photographs. To 
these will probably be added casts and perhaps 
some of the original specimens of classic Greek 
art which are now distributed throughout Eu- 
rope. 

A wheelman's parade, participated m by 24,- 
000 bicyclists, may be one of the sights at the 
exposition. Efforts are being made to bring 
about that result. 

The Pennsylvania coal operators want to con- 
struct a building entirely of anthracite coal at 
the exposition and to have 50,000 tons of best 
anthracite on exhibition. 

A continuous clam-bake will be one of the 
attractions which epicurean visitors will find at 
the exposition. 



2/2 

The South African diamond mine exhibit will 
doubtless prove an eye-opener, to use a slang 
expression. The exhibit will come from Cape 
Colony and will include 10,000 carats of uncut 
stones, a very large quantity of stones fine cut 
and polished, together with all that is necessary 
to show the process of mining and washing. 
For this it will be necessary to transport to 
Chicago 100 tons of pulverized blue earth, 50 
tons of unpulverized earth, and a complete 
washing machine, which will be operated by 
natives. The exhibit will also include a unique 
collection of crocidolite, special diamondiferous 
products, ostrich feathers, fleeces, etc. It is re- 
ported that a Bushman and Hottentot in native 
dress will accompany the exhibit. 

A communication has been received by the 
fair officials from the British Commission ask- 
ing for space to exhibit the rifle-calibre guns 
manufactured by the Maxim-Nordenfeldt Gun 
Company. The company wants to erect a 
building in which to exhibit its guns in practice. 
One end of the building will be filled with sand- 
bags into which the projectiles of the guns will 
be fired. It is claimed that the arrangements 
are such as will insure perfect safety and will be 
reproductions of a similar exhibit recently given 
at the Royal Naval Exposition in London. 



^73 

The wooded island in the exposition 
grounds has already begun to assume the char- 
acter which in great part it will have during the 
fair — that of a gigantic flower garden. The 
horticultural department has recently received 
27,000 rose bushes and other plants, several 
thousand of which came from abroad. These 
are being transplanted on the island. 

It may be said to be assured that the exhibits 
at the fair will cover a wider range and be far 
more numerous than any array ever before 
gathered together. They will present a picture 
of the condition and industrial progress of man- 
kind in every quarter of the world and of its 
achievements in every branch of the sciences 
and arts. The exposition classification em- 
braces 12 departments, 176 groups and 967 
classes. The applications for space by intend- 
ing exhibitors in the United States alone num- 
bered 2,082 in January last. The number at the 
Philadelphia Centennial in corresponding space 
was 864. Applications from foreign visitors are 
rapidly increasing in numbers. It seems as- 
sured that the visitors wil) outnumber those at 
any previous world's fair. 

In April, 1893, a grand international naval 
review, preliminary to the opening of the ex- 
position, as provided for by an act of Congress, 



574 

will be held in New York harbor, arrangements 
for which are already in progress. All the great 
navies of the world will participate in this vast 
aquatic pageant. 



PART VIII. 



ABOUT THE CITY DURING FAIR TIME. 




WITH the 
exception of 
the Auditor- 
i um and 
the Chica- 
go Opera 
^^ House the 
plans of 

which have been heretofore outlined, the 
theatres, so far as at present known, have not 
arranged for any special attractions during the 
fair. All of the down-town houses have booked 
more or less to the time from May to October, 
and the attractions for the most part are such 
standard renditions as have been proved popu- 
lar with playgoers for the last two or three 
years. The patron of the regular playhouses 
will be able to take his choice between grand 
or light opera, local drama, tragedy, comedy or 
burlesque, and the most exacting taste will 
doubtless be amply satisfied. The contract 
between managers Abbey and Adams for the 
production at the Auditorium has already been 
signed and the spectacle to be presented there 



276 

will, it is expected, eclipse anything that these 
two managers have ever before attempted. At 
the Chicago Opera House the first great suc- 
cesses in the way of burlesque that Mr. Hender- 
senscored, "Arabian Nights," "Crystal Slipper," 
and ''Sinbad," are to be repeated in rotation, 
and people will have an opportunity to witness 
the perfection of the class of entertainment 
termed by the irreverent "leg-shows," but known 
to the world at large by the more dignified title 
of burlesque. 

Pain & Sons, the great firm whose pyrotech- 
nical productions have made them famous 
wherever fireworks are known, are to produce 
their famous spectacle, "The Fall of Pompeii," 
at the Cottage Grove amphitheatre, near South 
park, this summer. They are also, it is under- 
stood, arranging for a production on a much 
more wonderful scale for the fair season in the 
same locality. One of the beauties of the Pain 
projections is their shortness. Their glare and 
brilliancy is generally crowded into an hour or 
at most an hour and a half, thus enabling the 
spectator to secure a surfeit of pleasure, as it 
were, in a short space of time, without forcing 
him to spend an unnecessary season in waiting, 
Micawber-like, for something to turn up. 

The racing, the boating, the riding, and the 
hundred other attractions of the city have al- 



277 

ready been described in detail. None are likely 
to get away between the present time and the 
day set for the opening of the fair. On the 
contrary, they are likely to be added to and en- 
hanced, for human ingenuity is being taxed to 
its utmost to invent new charms for the pleas- 
ure-seeker and, incidentally, of course, to catch 
the nimble dollar that he is willing to disburse 
for the procurement of such pleasures, elevat- 
ing or otherwise. 

Of course no well regulated person ever en- 
ters a saloon except for purposes of investiga- 
tion, but there are a few saloons and cafes in 
Chicago that are visited as much for sight-see- 
ing as for liquid refreshment. In some 
there hang pictures worth small fortunes. The 
objects represented are generally a little bit 
outre — ''saloonish'' as I have heard it called. 
Hannah & Hogg's saloons, of which there are 
several, located in the business district at vari- 
ous points, are celebrated for the works of art 
that adorn their walls. The one on Madison 
street, under the Madison Street Opera House, 
contains a valuable gallery of paintings, the 
cash estimate of which runs into thousands 
of dollars. This is the largest place owned 
by the firm ; some of their branch establishments 
contain rare pictures that are almost as valua- 
ble. 



278 

"Handsome Harry Varnell's" place on South 
Clark street, near Madison, is perhaps the most 
gorgeous saloon in Chicago. It was only re- 
cently completed at a cost said to exceed I40,- 
000. All the walls and wainscoting are finished 
in Mexican onyx, and the outer part is designed 
in iron and bronze. Some oil paintings, the sub- 
jects of which are very interesting, adorn the 
walls. Varnell, the proprietor, is a "character." 
He enjoys a large popularity with the sporting 
classes. He is said to be interested in the Gar- 
field park race track and is quite a ''plunger" 
at other games as well. He was one of the prin- 
cipals in the old-time "boodle" sensation, which 
resulted in several of the county officials of 
that period going to the penitentiary under sen- 
tence for bribery and corruption. 

Just across the way from Varnell's is Lan- 
sing & McGarigle's saloon and restaurant, a 
place made famous both by the personality of 
its chief proprietor and by a historical tragedy 
that occurred there some few years ago. Wil- 
liam J. McGarigle has held various offices. He 
was once superintendent of police and later war- 
den of the county hospital. When the boodle 
trials were held he was tried and sentenced to 
two years imprisonment, but, while awaiting in 
the county jail the result of his appeal for a 
new trial, he secured permission from Canute R. 



279 

Matson, the sheriff of the county, to visit his 
home. He drove there with Matson, and, on 
the pretext of taking a bath, he slipped away 
from the house, boarded a schooner, and got 
over into Canada. His flight formed one of 
the newspaper sensations of the hour. Matson 
never quite recovered from the shock. In the 
language of the song, McGarigle "never came 
back," that is to say, not until his friends had 
so arranged things that when he did come back 
he was permitted to pay his debt to the law by 
the payment of a fine of $i,ooo. McGarigle's 
place now is a famous rendezvous for ''sports" 
of both sexes. The fare served is of a high qual- 
ity, and the visitor may find all the enjoyment 
he desires in studying the people who sit at the 
tables near him. There are ladies of great 
beauty and of all ages, but all of whom mani- 
festly belong to the class whose existence repu- 
table people endeavor to forget; there are 
gamblers, touts and so on, in loud clothes and 
wearing much loud jewelry, both genuine and 
bogus. The best of order and good conduct 
prevail for the reason that no boisterous ac- 
tions are tolerated. But sometimes all the rules 
and regulations in the world are not proof 
against the angry passions of men, a fact that 
was conclusively proved by the tragedy already 
mentioned. 



28o 

The principals were "Doc" Haggerty, a well- 
known and very muscular person, who bore the 
reputation of being something of a bully, and 
'Jimmy" Connorton, a gambler. There was a 
feudbetween the two and when Connorton went 
into McGarigle's place one Saturday evening 
and met his foe face to face high words and blows 
were instantly interchanged. Accounts vary as 
to who first drew the deadly pistol, but Connor- 
ton got in the first shot. He shot Haggerty 
through the stomach, and then fled through the 
restaurant, pursued by the wounded man, who 
at every step snapped his revolver in the effort 
to slay his adversary. But the weapon would 
not explode, and it was not until the two reached 
the sidewalk and Connorton had almost suc- 
ceeded in escaping through a line of cabs that 
it did respond to the fall of the hammer. Con- 
norton sunk to the sidewalk desperately wound- 
ed. The excitement over the tragedy was only 
equalled by that occasioned by the Dunn- 
Elliott encounter in the old Tivoli. Haggerty 
died, but Connorton recovered and was ac- 
quitted on the ground of self-defense. At pres- 
ent Lansing & McGarigle's is a model resort of 
its kind. It caters to the sporting element al- 
most exclusively, and happily such tragedies 
like the one here told do not occur often. 

Hogan and Batchelder's, two well-known and 



28 1 



popular resorts on State street, also cater to 
the sporting element. They have private sup- 
per-rooms in which hilarious parties are wont 
to hold high revel, especially after a return from 
a successful day at the races. 

The places mentioned are of course of a cer- 
tain variety, but the reader has been told in 
preceding chapters of the many more quiet 
and more decorous places that he may visit. It 
is a ''great big'* city, full of all sorts of attrac- 
tions, godly and ungodly. If the world's 
fair should be closed on Sundays, something 
that the religious element is sedulously endeav- 
oring to bring about, the army of pleasure-seekers 
will be driven to the city itself for recreation. 




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